Gilmore Girls Alternate Universe
by Caitlincat
Summary: An alternate universe in which Lorelai has a second child. Mia, who is nine years old when Rory is almost sixteen. Starts in season one.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything it is all based off the show mixed with my overactive imagination. I would really appreciate any feedback on the story, the characters or the format Thanks for reading!**

Lorelai Gilmore walked across the street and into Luke's Diner, as she does at least once a day. She bounces up to the counter and smiles at Luke.

Lorelai: Please, Luke, please please!

Luke: No

Lorelai pouts and continues to beg for coffee in her annoyingly charming way. Eventually Luke caves and gives her coffee. Lorelai smiles, victorious.

She sits down at a table near the window and is approached by a guy. She turns him down. "I'm waiting for my friends" she explains.

Then she smiles. "Rory!" She says "Come sit down" Rory sits and the two fall into their usual rhythm of quick conversation and pop culture references. "I'll see if I can wrangle some coffee for you out of Luke" she giggles.

Lorelai smiles expectantly at Luke with her coffee cup. "No!" Says Luke. "It's for Rory, I swear" she protests." I will not be your enabler!" Says Luke.

"Ok maybe not for free but will you do it for a twenty" she teases. Luke takes the money.

"Fine," he says

"Bring pie!" Lorelai shouts back to the kitchen

Mia walks into the diner

"Finally the voice of reason," says Luke "Never drink coffee, Mia, it makes you insane" he says gesturing towards Lorelai.

"Oh I know. Hey Mom," she says, joining her mother at the counter.

"Hey kiddo," she says, kissing her daughter's cheek "How was dance?"

"Two mildly serious collisions and three disturbing stories from Miss Patty's showbiz past so nothing new"

"Sorry to subject you to that, Hun" Lorelai jokes

"It's fine. Where's Rory?" Mia asks.

"She's over there.." Lorelai turns back to the table to see the same guy chatting up Rory. "He's got quite a nerve" she says, striding over to deal with it. Mia hops up to follow her but Luke, back from the kitchen stops her. " Stay here and watch, kid. It will be more fun, trust me"

 **Thanks for reading this far. Just to explain, Mia is not Rory's twin. She is 9 years old. Mia is the product of a one night stand between Lorelai and Christopher at a Christmas party. Chris has treated Mia pretty much exactly the same as he treated Rory. Please leave feedback this is my first story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is chapter 2. I still don't own anything it is all based off the show. Thank you so much for reading it means a lot?**

"Boy that sure is a lot of zeros after that 5," Lorelai says down the phone. There's no way she can afford that tuition fee for a fancy school like Chilton. "No I don't want you to give up her place" Lorelai says quickly. "I'll find a way to make it work. Ok bye" She hangs up and sighs heavily.

Rory skips into the living room in her new Chilton uniform. "Look Mom!" She says happily.

"Oh Rory you look great I'm so proud of you kid!"

"I feel smarter already" says Rory with a smile and she turns back to her bedroom. Mia is sitting on her bed, quietly strumming her guitar.

"Hey kid what do you think" says Rory with a twirl. Mia looks at her with a sad smile

"You look awesome" she says.

"Hey what's up, Mia,"Rory asks her softly.

"Nothing it's fine, well it's just stupid really. I'm so proud of you, everybody is. You're doing so well and it's so clear to see your gonna be an awesome adult. I just don't think anybody is ever gonna be that proud of me"

"What are you talking about. You're just as smart as me and you could get into Chilton plus you've got your music and your art and your dance. You know I suck at all that stuff,"

"Rory you're special. Everyone says. You know your gonna be a journalist and go to Harvard. You know what you wanna do with your life. I don't even know which Spice Girl is my favourite"

"Mia you're nine years old you don't have to know any of that, not yet. And you are special, so special. You can tell a story with a dance or a piece of art and make it look beautiful, that's special"

"You can have my car!" Offers Sookie. She and Lorelai are standing on the balcony, discussing ways to find money for Rory's tuition. "Aw sweetie no one wants your car" Lorelai says. This is hard for her, really hard. There's no way she can say to no to Rory. Since day 1 she has been determined to give her girls everything they need. And Rory needed this. It would get her to Harvard, Lorelai was sure that's where she going.

"You know there's an obvious solution to this," says Sookie, breaking her chain of thought.

"Oh Sookie, no!"

"You know they'd say yes" Sookie says, pushing it.

"It's not about that Sookie it's about pride. I ran away from there. I can't go back"

"Go back where" Mia asks, walking outside.

"Grandma and Grandpa's" Lorelai responds. Mia wrinkles her nose.

"Why would we go back there, it's not Christmas" She says.

"See!" points out Lorelai. "And they like her,"

"I'm not so sure," Mia says.

"Oh Hun they do they just hate your name which I gave you so all roads lead back to me," She sighs heavily.

"You don't know that they hate you," Sookie says.

"Bo but I know that they disapprove of me, invalidate me and manipulate me,"

"You're being dramatic," Mia says. "Why do we have to go there anyway?"

"I need money," Lorelai says. "For Rory. I don't have a choice here, do I?" The others shake their heads. "Well I guess we're visiting Grandma, then," She takes a large swig of beer.

"Can I try some?" Mia asks, sweetly, sniffing the bottle. "It smells good!"

"Do you want to spend tomorrow morning vomiting uncontrollably?"

"No..." says Mia innocently.

"Then no," says Lorelai, finishing the bottle.

 **Thanks for reading. I love any feedback and if you have any ideas on what I could do with the story or ideas for new or existing characters I would love to hear!❤️**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Thank you so much for reading! Literally every time that I see the view or visitor number has gone up, it makes me overwhelmingly happy, so thank you.:)**

"Are you sure you don't want us to come in with you?" asks Rory. The girls are sat in Lorelai's jeep outside the Gilmore mansion, waiting for Lorelai to work up the nerve to go in. It's been a while. "You'll be fine, Mom," says Mia.

"Yeah I know. I will be fine. Everything will be... fine. I'm just asking for a loan. It's not a big deal it's just a small, well not really small, but not a big, loan. And it's for Rory, Rory's education, I'll make sure they know that it's for Rory and not for me to spend on 80s memorabilia. And I'll pay them back! Every penny. I'll make sure they know that too and..."

"We became irrelevant in this conversation a while ago." Rory whispers to Mia.

"Mom?" Says Mia.

"Ok ,I'm going, but if I'm not out in an hour, send help. Preferably armed help with a gym membership they don't just use to access the spa,"

"Mom!" says Mia "Just go! It's grandma's house, not the Joker's"

"Same differerence." Lorelai grumbles. But she gets out the jeep and walks up to the door. The maid answers and Lorelai steps inside.

After about twenty minutes of waiting, Lorelai emerges from the house. She climbs into the jeep and rests her head on the wheel. There is silence, then the girls explode.

"Come on tell us. What happened? What did she say?" They clamour.

"Well I got the loan," says Lorelai.

"But..." Mia prompts

"Cancel any plans you have on Friday from now until eternity because we're having dinner with your grandparents."

The car ride home is very quiet. All three Gilmore Girls are thinking. Mostly negative thoughts, except Mia. When they finally arrive at the house, Mia breaks the silence.

"Isn't this good?" she asks, quietly.

"That I can't ever go on a Friday night date again? Not really." says Lorelai.

"No doesn't this mean Rory's going to Chilton?" She asks, confused by the mood of her mother and sister.

Lorelai looks up. "Well I guess.." she says, starting to smile. "Rory bring me your skirt, I want to hem it," she adds, cheekily.

"Mom..." Rory moans, good-naturedly.

"Aw please, kiddo, just a bit" she begs.

"Fine but just a tiny, little bit," says Rory.

"Ok," says Lorelai.

"I mean it, Mom" Rory warns.,

"What I didn't say anything!" Lorelai says, defending herself.

Mia listens to their voices disappear upstairs and smiles. "This is a good thing." She whispers to herself.

* * *

"You know what I hate?" Lorelai declares loudly to her daughters who are walking either side of her, en route to school.

"Coupons?" Mia suggests.

"People who say it Kew-pons?" Rory adds

"Johnny Depp's real height?" Mia says, trying again. Rory smirks.

"Well, yes, but you know what I hate more than that?"

"I hate nothing more than coupons," states Rory.

"Facism, murder, inequality," says Mia. "All things you should probably hate more than coupons,"

"Well, I hate that we don't have a pet," Lorelai announces , breaking up their conversation.

"Oh no. Here we go again," groans Mia. "Regular as freakin' clockwork,"

"Well it is the time of year," says Rory. "And we haven't had one yet,"

"What time of year? One what?" Asks Lorelai, confused.

Oh come on, Mom. You must know!" Says Mia.

"The annual 'Why we should have a pet speech'" says Rory. "Around the anniversary of the day Grandma gave away your bunny, which, by the way, I can't believe your still stuck on."

"It's not to do with that!" Lorelai protests. "I wanna pet!" She pouts.

"You do this every year, Mom, and every year we have to tell you no," says Mia.

"Why not?" her mother asks.

"You abandoned our hamster!" Rory cries.

"Yeah but that was a hamster,"

"Exactly. If you can't look after a hamster I don't even wanna think about what you would do to a dog or a cat." Rory adds.

"Well I took care of you two, you're alright," says Lorelai.

"We make more noise," Mia points out.

"Please, Mom, don't make me get out my 'Pet Pro-Con' list." pleads Rory.

"Fine," Lorelai grumbles. "Party pooper"

"You know," says Mia "I really feel like this conversation should've been the other way round. That's how this normally works, right?"

"Yeah but where's the fun in that," says Lorelai.

"It's in my desk with the 4 page Pro-Con list," Rory grumbles. The girls stop walking outside Stars Hollow High.

"Bye kid, have a great last day!" says Lorelai, kissing her older daughter goodbye.

"Thanks Mom, bye Mia." She says. She's about to say something else when a tall, handsome boy she's never seen before walks past. Rory stares after him, transfixed. Lorelai raises her eyebrows at Mia.

"I gotta go to Mom," says Mia, kissing her mother and turning away.

"Bye baby," says Lorelai.

"Don't forget about dinner tonight, Mom." Mia shouts back.

"Don't remind me." Sighs Lorelai, turning and walking to work.

* * *

"Rory? Rory!" says Lane. "You zoned out there."

"Did I miss out any work?" Rory says, anxiously.

"No," replies Lane "You just missed my story on how my mother tried to force feed me yet more gross, uncooked vegetables"

"I'm sorry," says Rory.

"That's fine. What's on your mind?" She asks. "Rory?" She follows Rory's gaze. "Oh the new boy."

"Do you know who he is?" Asks Rory

"His name's Dean, he's from out of town." Lane replies. "Why? You like?"

"Oh no, I..." says Rory, trailing off and looking back at Dean.

* * *

Mia walks into her classroom and sits down next to Harrison, her best friend who also happens to live next door.

"Hey Mia, how did last night go?" He asks

"Good. The question is how will tonight go?" She replies and explains the story to Harrison.

"How come your Gran is still mad at your Mom?"

"I guess they never really talked about Mom running away properly," says Mia. " I don't really know, though. Mom doesn't talk about Grandma much"

Harrison nods. "I've never heard her mention her parents."

"Who's she?" Mia asks, nodding to the new girl at the front.

"Class, listen up. This is our new student, Clara Forrester." Miss Payes announces.

"Good morning, Clara," the class trill.

"She's moved here from Chicago and I expect you all to make her feel welcome,"

Harrison looks over at Mia. "She seems nice," he says. Mia nods in agreement.

* * *

"Well hello Lorelai, Rory, Mia" says Emily. She kisses her granddaughters and leads them through to the main sitting room. " Dinner will be ready soon," she tells them. "Richard! The girls are here!" Emily shouts.

"Oh hello, girls," says Richard, sitting down opposite Lorelai. There is a long, uncomfortable silence. Richard hands both girls a part of the paper.

"Dinner's ready!" Emily announces.

* * *

"Lorelai I don't know how you can be surprised that I'm angry. You seem to go out of your way to make me angry!" Emily shouts."You even named your second child to make me angry."

"Hey!" Lorelai shouts back "I did not name Mia out of anger, Mom. I also did not name her because of you, because, believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you. I wanted to thank the woman who helped me when I needed help. I named my child out of love, of course I did."

"You were still a child yourself." Emily says, harshly.

"I stopped being a child the minute the strip turned pink." Lorelai cries.

"Well that makes it worse!" Yells Emily. "If you weren't a child then you must've known what you were doing to us. It's bad enough you got pregnant but to take off like that then repeat the mistake..."

"Ok stop it. Right now. You have no right to talk to me like this, Mom. If I had a choice I would leave and never come back but I don't so... thanks for dinner, Mom see you next week." Lorelai stays, storming out the kitchen and into the dining room. "Girls get your coats. Bye Dad." The girls sit there, stunned, not sure what to do.

"Lorelai this conversation is not over!" says Emily following Lorelai into the hall.

"Girls, come on quickly." says Lorelai.

"Dinner was great, Grandma." says Rory, following her mother out. Mia stares at her grandparents silently for a few seconds, then follows.

The car journey home is silent. "Did you hear?" Lorelai asks, quietly. Both girls nod. "Don't take any notice." says Lorelai, and they continue home in silence.

Nobody talked much that evening. Rory went straight to bed and Lorelai buried herself in work for business school. Mia stayed up for a few hours but Lorelai wasn't in a chatty mood so Mia gave up and went to bed.

* * *

Mia sits bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. She looks at the clock. 2.56am. She lays back down but she can't sleep. Mia gets up and quietly tiptoes upstairs to Lorelai's room.

"Mom?" She whispers, shaking Lorelai awake.

"Mmm?" Lorelai stirs. "This better be a life or death situation" Lorelai says into her pillow.

"Mom I had a nightmare." says Mia, her voice shaking.

"Hop in, kid," says Lorelai, drowsily. "What was the nightmare?"

"I don't remember." says Mia. "But I know it was scary." They both lay awake for a few minutes.

"Mom?" says Mia "Am I a mistake?" Lorelai props herself up and looks at Mia concerned. "Is this about what Mom said?"

"No. Well, yes but am I?"

"Oh Mia," says Lorelai. "How could you think that? I love you so much. You and Rory are by far the best things I've ever done. The day you were born and the day Rory was born were the best days of my life despite the intense pain and drugs. Do you believe me?" Mia nods solemnly. "Ok Hun, try and get some sleep.

"Thanks Mom." Says Mia, lying down.

"For what?" Asks Lorelai.

"For looking after me." says Mia.

"You don't have to thank me for that, babe, it's what I do."

"I know." says Mia, her eyes closing. "But you deserve a thank you anyway, because you do it so well."

* * *

Lorelai is woken by Rory.

"I can't go to Chilton, Mom."

"What? Rory of course you're going to Chilton."

"I don't want to anymore." Rory claims.

"Rory it's ok if you're scared but you have to go." Rory has gone downstairs so Lorelai follows her. Mia listens to the argument going on downstairs. It's gets louder and louder.

"Ohh this is about a guy," she hears her Mom say. Mia gets up and walks downstairs. The shouting has stopped and Lorelai is talking to Rory in the bedroom.

"Rory?" says Mia. "You need to go be special, like what you told me to do. Chilton will help you do that, won't it?"

"Fine. You win. I'll go." Rory says.

"She's just mad Mia, guys can make you go crazy like that. Never fall in love, hey?" says Lorelai.

"I'll try my best." says Mia.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter! As always advice and feedback is much appreciated. Let me know who you would like more scenes between or which characters you would like to see more of. I will be putting a chapter up at 2 on Sundays and 5 on Wednesdays (UK time) so I can write longer chapters. Thanks again!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own anything. I hope you enjoy this slightly longer chapter. Happy reading!**

"Rory please it's 5 am go back to bed," pleads Mia.

"It need my shoes, the new ones, have you seen them?" says Rory, searching frantically through the closet.

"Yes you left them by the door on Saturday so they'd definitely be ready and then you repositioned them three times to make sure you couldn't miss them." says Mia.

"Right, thanks." says Rory, dashing out and returning with her shoes.

"Rory, relax, everything's ready." says Mia, gently. "Mom even bought that new, fluffy alarm clock."

"You're right, it's gonna be fine."

"Good girl. Now just sit and read a book or something." says Mia crawling back into bed.

 _Two hours later._

"Mom! Get up it's 7.10!" Yells Rory.

"No it's not, go away." Lorelai moans.

"Mom, please get up you're supposed to drop me at breakfast club like now." says Mia

"What time is it?" says Lorelai

"7.10!" Yell both girls.

Lorelai runs downstairs to the kitchen.

"Ok Mia you'll have to come with us to Chilton first and then I'll drop you at school otherwise we'll never make it and..."

"What on earth are you wearing?" says Mia

"There's no way you're going outside looking like that." says Rory.

"Well then I guess you're walking to Hartford." says Lorelai.

"Fine. I'm sorry. Come on Mia, get in the car." says Rory.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm here." says Mia "How did I get dragged into this?" She asks, staring up at the prestigious school they've just pulled up to.

"It does look scarier than last time," admits Lorelai.

"Is it weird to be scared of a building?" says Mia. "Asking for a friend,"

"Come on, we're already late. Let's go." says Rory.

"Can I come in?" Mia asks "Everybody's staring at the jeep funny"

"Whatever just hurry up," says Rory.

"I feel like I'm about to be beheaded." says Mia, as they enter the large stone building complete with fountains and gargoyles.

After finding their way to the principles office with the help of an attractive Chilton dad who Lorelai tried to set up a date with, Rory starts to get nervous.

"It'll be fine, kid," says Lorelai, squeezing her hand.

When they walk into the principles office, Emily is waiting for them.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" asks Lorelai.

"Wishing Rory luck." says Emily, kissing Rory's cheek. She looks at Mia. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to forget about the hundreds of gargoyle eyes watching me." says Mia.

"We were running late this morning, Mom, so I had to bring her with me." says Lorelai. "Look, Mia, wait outside with your grandma, will you?"

"Wait what?" says Mia.

Mia and Emily stand outside.

"Oh Mia, darling, I'm sorry your Mommy drags you around everywhere. Would you like a lift to school in grandma's fancy car?"

"I'm fine, thanks grandma. Stars Hollow's out of your way."

"Oh, your geography's good!" says Emily, delighted. "You're gonna be a smart girl like your sister!"

"Maybe!" says Mia, through gritted teeth. She hates being treated like a little kid, probably because her Mom always treated her like a grown up.

Lorelai walks out and sighs. Emily's smile disappears. "I can't believe you showed up in that!" she says. "Honestly, Lorelai,"

"Well believe me, Mom, it wasn't planned," says Lorelai. "Come on Mia, we're leaving,"

She takes Mia's hand and leads her away.

"God bless you," says Mia, hugging her mom tight.

* * *

"Hey Harrison, I'm so so sorry I wasn't there for breakfast club this morning. There was a crazy emergency involving my mom in short shorts and gargoyles," Mia says, sitting down heavily in her seat.

"Enough said." says Harrison, with a smirk.

"What's that smile for?" Mia asks.

"Well, I just signed you up for the school talent show!"

"What!?" says Mia

"They had a sign up sheet this morning and I figured you'd do it."

"Harrison! What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know I figured you'd sing or play something. I thought you'd be happy about this. You get sing on a stage. That's what you want, right?"

"Oh Harrison," she moans.

"I don't why you're mad at me. I thought this would make you happy. This is a good opportunity, isn't it?"

"I guess." says Mia, with a sigh. "I'm still not happy with you, though." she says, punching him playfully in the arm.

"I'm sure I'll cope." says Harrison, with a smile. "You're not exactly threatening,"

"Well beware, Harrison. My greatest weapons are my words."

"You freak me out, sometimes, Mia Gilmore." he says, chuckling.

Later that day, Mia and Harrison watch Clara sit at a table alone.

"She looks so lonely." says Mia.

"Do you want to invite her to sit with us?" asks Harrison.

"Can I? You won't feel outnumbered or anything?" says Mia. Harrison is her best friend and she wants to respect him.

"I'll be fine, Mia, come on. We'll go to her."

They walk over.

"Hey Clara, I'm Mia and this is Harrison. It's nice to have you in school."

Clara smiles shyly at her. "Hey, I'm Clara."

* * *

"Could you date a Chilton dad, though?" says Sookie when Lorelai tells her about the guy she met at Chilton.

"Well I can if he's hot." says Lorelai.

"No I mean would it affect Rory?" asks Sookie.

"Oh man I hadn't thought about that. It could make school hard for her. I can't date him, can I?"

"Sorry sweetie," says Sookie.

"No it's ok, Rory comes first."

* * *

After school, Mia sits in Luke's, waiting. Luke brings her a glass of water.

"I'm concerned about your hydration," he says.

"Thanks Luke,"

"Thank goodness one of them will still drink something caffeine-free," Luke mumbles as he walks away.

"Rory, hey!" Mia calls to her sister. "How was school?"

"Classes were good, Paris was not,"

"Who's Paris?" Mia asks.

"Oh just this girl who's decided she hates me," says Rory.

"Sorry Rory, it's her loss," says Mia.

"She doesn't see it that way," sighs Rory.

"Hey I know what will cheer you up," says Mia, "Pie!"

"Well pie would be great but neither of us has any money."

"Follow my lead," Mia whispers to her and walks over to Luke. "Luke," she whines.

"What do you want?" says Luke, gruffly. "And you better not say coffee."

"No Luke it's just that Rory had a really bad day at school..." says Mia, blinking her blue eyes at Luke. Rory wobbles her bottom lip. "She could really use some pie because this girl at school _hates_ her,"

"Fine, one piece of pie,"

"But Luke we're too young to work full time and we don't have any money," says Mia, her eyes filling with very realistic tears.

Luke sighs. "Fine, take it,"

"Thanks Luke!" says Rory, happily. "Hey where's Mom?" she asks.

"She had to meet a stove guy at the inn," replies Mia.

"Oh Sookie burnt another one?" asks Rory

"Yeah."

Lorelai walks into the diner and sits down at their table. "Hey kids," she says

"Hey Mom you want some free pie?"

"You got free pie? You have learnt my ways."

"You must be so proud of what you passed on to the next generation." says Rory.

"Oh I am. Why did you need free pie, anyway? Was school that bad?"

"No it was fine, really. I'm just tired and I need more time to adjust." Rory says.

"Sure that's completely normal." says Lorelai, comforting her.

"I'll be fine. Mia how was your day?"

"Harrison signed me up for the talent show."

"He did? Oh kiddo that's great!" says Lorelai, smiling.

"No it's not, it's sneaky is what it is. I have no idea what to do. I've never sung in front of a crowd before."

"Maybe you could dance instead?" suggests Rory.

"Oh no. No no no."

"Why not?" asks Rory

"Because I don't actually like dancing. The only reason I do it is because if I quit, Patty would turn against me and then we'd have to leave town,"

"Who said anything about we?" says Lorelai, with a smile. "If you get run out of town then you're on your own, kid."

"Whatever you do, Mia, I'm sure you'll be great." says Rory. "What will you sing?"

"I don't know. I don't want to talk about this anymore." says Mia. Then she smiles. "Hey Rory, how's the guy?"

"There over 3 billion guys in the world, Mia. You have to be more specific."

"You know, your guy."

"Dean?" she says, looking nervously at Lorelai. "He's not my guy."

"Rory, sweetie, it's fine I'm not mad about that anymore. It was only when I thought you were gonna quit Chilton for him that I was mad." says Lorelai "Come on, tell me. Who's the guy? What's his name?"

"His name's Dean Forrester,"

"Forrester? I know his sister," says Mia.

"You do? Oh great. Could you tell her to tell him that..."

"Uh uh. No way. That breaks the code." says Mia, stopping her.

"What code?" asks Rory.

"The code that says you can't use your sister to get to guys." Mia explains.

"Fine. It doesn't matter. Nothing's going to happen now anyway because I go to Chilton."

"So?" says Lorelai

"So I spend my whole life at school. I won't have time for him."

"Rory, you know there's this thing called the weekend. It's kinda beautiful actually." says Lorelai.

"Ok but none of that matters because I don't even know if he likes me." she says.

"Then find out." says Mia

"It's not that easy..." Rory says

"Why not?" says Lorelai. "Just talk to him more. He'll let you know if he likes you. Guys are good at that part."

"I guess I could ask Lane where he works and talk to him there..." Rory says, uncertainly.

"Hey good idea. You would regret it forever if you didn't even try." says Lorelai.

* * *

Mia is sitting in the living room on Monday evening, flipping through CDs in an agitated manner. She looks at one, decides against it, chucks it on the couch and then repeats the process.

"Hey!" says Lorelai "What are you doing chucking my Bowie on the couch?" She picks up the David Bowie CD and dusts it off.

"I'm trying to find a song," says Mia, looking depressed.

"Aw kiddo, don't be sad. This is gonna be great, I know it."

"No you don't," says Mia.

"Hey, what age did you stop believing in my 'special Mommy powers'"

"Mom.."

"Hey, Mia, you'll never know if you don't try and then you'll spend your life regretting it."

"Not my whole life, I'm sure," she says.

"Please Mia. I know you can do this. Do it for me."

Mia looks at her mother. She wants more than anything to make her happy and proud. "Fine." she says "But you have to help me pick a song."

"Oh yay fun!" says Lorelai. "Hey I have an idea. Let's just stick on a mixed tape and whichever song comes on first you have to sing. No arguments"

"Ok play the song," says Mia, impatiently.

"You have to promise to sing it,"

"I promise," says Mia.

"Do I need to make you take a pact?" asks Lorelai.

"Mom..."

"Okay fine," Lorelai says, pressing play on the CD player. Bette Midler's, _The Wind Beneath My Wings,_ plays out from the speakers.

"I swear I did not set that up," says Lorelai.

"It's fine," says Mia. "Now I've found a song,"

* * *

Rory wanders aimlessly around Doose's Market, pretending to shop for food. When she sees Dean she quickly picks up the closest thing to her. Corn starch.

"Hey, how's it going?" says Dean.

Rory melts and the rest of their conversation flys by. Dean takes her over to the drinks aisle. He takes two sodas and hides them behind his back.

Mia drops into the market to buy gum on her way to get ready for the talent show. She's so nervous and yet she also can't contain her excitement. Mia spots Rory by the drinks aisle. She goes to call her then sees her with Dean. Mia watches with interest.

Dean leans over and kisses Rory. Rory kisses him back then pulls back, shocked.

"Thank you," she says, before bolting out of Doose's to Lane's, still holding the corn starch. Mia watches her go, stunned. Quickly, she pays for the gum and the corn starch, which, to her knowledge, Rory had stolen and heads straight home, still in a daze.

When she gets home, Lorelai is on the phone. Mia waits, patiently for her to finish but the conversation does not appear to be wrapping up. Mia heads into the bedroom to think. 'I should probably wait until Rory tells her' she thinks. Then she hears Rory open the door. Mia runs out of the bedroom, to see Lorelai finishing up her conversation.

"Hey girls," she says, after hanging up. "How's it going?"

Mia looks at Rory, expectantly. Rory goes to speak, then her face drops. "It's fine, Mom."

"And school was?"

"Good, good, all good. I gotta lot of work to do, though so I'm gonna go do that."

"Ok kiddo," says Lorelai. "That was weird. So vague," she says to Mia. "What's with the face?"

"I can't believe she didn't tell you!" says Mia.

"Tell me what?" asks Lorelai, confused.

"Rory got kissed!" Mia blurts out.

"She got what?!" says Lorelai, her heart dropping.

"Rory got kissed by a guy who, I assume, is Dean in the market."

"When?" asks Lorelai.

"Just now. Wow I really thought she'd tell you,"

"But she didn't. She didn't tell me." says Lorelai.

"I'm sorry, Mom,"

"I guess he did like her, then. And he let her know it. I gotta go talk to her about it. She's probably really confused,"

"Maybe that's not a good idea, Mom. You should probably let her tell you, first."

"Okay fine but if she hasn't told me by tomorrow night, I'm talking to her."

"That seems fair." says Mia.

Lorelai glances at the clock. Hey, isn't your talent show supposed to be on?"

"Oh no! I forgot with all the stuff about Rory. What's the time?"

"7.30,"

"It's about to end," says Mia sitting down.

"Oh hon, I'm so sorry. Come on, let's go anyway. Maybe we can find out who won," says Lorelai, rubbing her back and kissing her head.

"Ok," she says. "Come on Rory let's go." she yells to her sister

* * *

When the Gilmore Girls arrive at the school, it's empty. Except for Harrison.

"Oh Harrison, you waited!" she says, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Well I figured you'd show up eventually."

"I really wish I had done it, now," she says.

"Seriously? After all the backchat you gave me about signing up," says Harrison, smugly.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to have any regrets." she says, looking at Lorelai.

"And you're not going to," says Lorelai. "Go on, get up there and sing now."

"But there's three people here."

"And?" says Rory. "We're the three that matter."

"But the mic's off and I have no music,"

"Come on, Mia. You don't need a mic and I'm sure you can manage without music," says Harrison, pushing her up the stairs, onto the stage.

"Fine okay, I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" she says, pushing Harrison off her and standing centre stage.

Lorelai looks at her youngest daughter, thinking how small she looks on that big stage.

Mia takes a deep breath and sings. " _It must've been cold there in my shadow..."_

Harrison watches Mia sing and feels incredibly proud of his friend. His best friend. They've been best friends since they were four. He wonders if Clara will change that.

Rory watches her little sister and feels a wave of guilt. 'I should've told her' she thinks. She tries to reassure herself by thinking 'She wouldn't understand and Mom would freak out. It's best they don't know.' Even with that consolation, Rory still feels guilty.

Lorelai watches Mia sing with tears in her eyes. She's so proud of Mia that it makes her emotional. She'd be proud whether Mia was singing in front of three people or three thousand people. 'I've still got one,' she thinks 'One who tells me everything'

When Mia finishes she smiles and sits down on the stage. Her tiny audience of three applauds her. "Well it's a yes from me," says Rory.

"Yeah I'd give you ten out of ten," says Harrison.

"Aw kid that was beautiful," says Lorelai. "It's a shame no one else got to see that,"

"Well, maybe they will one day, just not today. And I kinda preferred this. It's more personal."

"Well at least you don't have any regrets, do you?" asks Lorelai.

"Nope. No regrets!" says Mia, with a smile. "Just regret the fact that I'm not in the eating chocolate but that's the same as always!"

"Good," says Lorelai. "Regrets suck,"

"Right. Time for coffee who's with me!" says Rory.

"I'll race you to Luke's," says Mia, taking off followed by Harrison.

"Oh, come on. Not fair! You know I despise exercise with every fibre of my being,"

"Man I can't run!" moans Rory. "I'm not as young as I once was."

"Come on. We'll walk." says Lorelai, linking her arm through Rory's. "So, how's things?"

"Good," says Rory. "Mia was great, wasn't she?"

"Yeah," says Lorelai, looking at Rory, concerned. "She was real great."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! This chapter has slightly more storytelling so let me know if you prefer more storytelling or more dialogue. As always, feedback is welcome, even if you just want to make a request or ask me a question about the story which I can answer in the next chapter. The next chapter will go up on Sunday at 2(U.K. time). Thanks again!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter** **5\. Hope you like it!**

* * *

All three Gilmore girls stand outside the Gilmore mansion.

"Time for round two!" says Lorelai.

"Don't think of it like that, Mom. I think grandma really wants a good relationship with you." says Rory.

"Oh, Rory. You're so innocent. You don't realise how many layers Mom has," sighs Lorelai.

"Layers are a good thing, though. They make a person interesting." says Mia.

"Not when they're layers of..,"

"Mom!" says Rory, quickly.

"You don't know what I was going to say!" protests Lorelai.

"Well I can imagine it wouldn't be PG."

"Can we just go in?" says Mia, ringing the doorbell.

The maid answers, a different one from last time.

"Hello!" says Mia.

The maid takes their coats and leads them to the sitting room, where Emily is waiting.

"Girls!" she says, happily.

"Hey Mom," says Lorelai.

"Hello Rory." says Emily, hugging her.

"And Mia. How are you, darling. Would you like some candy?"

"I'm good thanks, grandma."

"Ok honey," says Emily, pinching Mia's cheeks.

"Ha!" splutters Lorelai.

"What was that Lorelai?" asks Emily.

"What was what, Mom?"

"That noise you just made." says Emily.

"I was laughing, Mom."

"At what?"

"At nothing, Mom. I was just laughing. Laughing cus I'm happy. Can't someone just laugh out of unexplainable joy anymore, Mom?" says Lorelai.

"No." says Emily.

"Well the world sure has beaten you down, Emily Gilmore."

"Right!" says Emily, turning her attention to the girls. "Who wants a drink? Water? Soda?"

"Just soda for me." says Rory, politely.

"Me too." says Mia.

"Martini please, Mom," says Lorelai.

"I'll do it, grandma, you sit down." says Rory.

"Oh Rory, that's funny! I see you haven't inherited your mother's sense of humour."

"Gee thanks, Mom," says Lorelai.

"No seriously, grandma, she can make them." says Mia.

"Aw sweetie you're killing me." says Emily, laughing.

"Mom taught how to make a martini once when she was too lazy to get up from the couch. She said it would be a more useful skill than anything they could teach me in school," says Rory.

"Well done, kid." says Lorelai, sarcastically.

"Lorelai how could you show your little girl how to mix an alcoholic drink?"

"Well firstly, Mom, I didn't show her I dictated it to her from her from the couch, secondly, it's none of you business what I teach my kid to do."

"It's time for dinner." says Emily, expressionless. She walks into the dining room.

* * *

"Well I think that went well." says Mia, cheerfully.

"Well I feel less nauseated than last time, if that's what you mean." says Lorelai.

"Oh come on! This was definitely better. So far Mom hasn't made up any songs about grandma whereas last time there were at least 6." says Mia.

"The night is still young," says Lorelai.

"7," says Rory.

"7 what?"

"Songs. There was the one on Saturday morning to the tune of _The Candy Man can."_ says Rory.

"Oh yeah. _Who can take tomorrow? And taint it with regret? Oh Emily can,"_ sings Mia.

"Ok that's enough that was not my best work." says Lorelai.

"Seriously though, this was better, right?" asks Rory. "Maybe if you keep making progress then you and grandma can have a good relationship."

"Oh Rory. Me and grandma are never gonna have a relationship like the relationship we have. Too much has happened. But I still want you two to have a good relationship with her." says Lorelai, sadly.

* * *

"Rory!" yells Lorelai, pulling on one shoe. "Mia! Can one of you get the phone? Come on girls, it's not a grenade you can pick it up you know!" She makes it to the phone and Mia walks in. "Well it's a bit late, now, isn't it?"

"Oh but..." says Mia.

Lorelai picks up the phone. "Hello, Lorelai speaking."

"Lorelai, it's your mother." says Emily.

"I tried to tell you." says Mia, going back to the bedroom.

"Hello Mom. What's up?"

"How do you know something's up? What if I just called you up for a chat?"

"Did you?" asks Lorelai.

"No." says Emily. "But that's not the point. Don't just assume I want something every time I call,"

"Ok. What's up, Mom?"

"Well I was thinking that us four girls spend a lot of time together but the girls don't spend a lot of alone time with their grandfather." says Emily.

"What's your point, Mom?"

"Well I was thinking Richard could take the girls golfing,"

"What?"

"It would be fun!"

"You have a strange idea of fun. What does Dad say?"

"Well I haven't asked him yet but I'm sure he'll say yes,"

"Mom!" Lorelai groans. "He won't want to do this and the girls won't want to do it."

"Well have you asked them?"

"No, Mom but I know they won't want to."

"So you can read my minds now?" says Emily.

"Fine, Mom, I'll ask them,"

"What are your weekend plans, Lorelai? You could join them if you'd like." asks Emily.

"Oh no, Mom. There's a wedding at the inn this weekend and I haven't completely lost my mind." says Lorelai.

"Fine. Lorelai?" says Emily.

"Yes, mother."

"It means a lot to me that the girls and your father spend time together,"

"I know, Mom." says Lorelai.

* * *

"Hey girls." says Lorelai as they walk into Luke's. "Guess what? You're going to the club with your grandfather to play golf!"

"What?" says Mia.

"I'm sorry. I tried to get you out of it but grandma wasn't giving up." says Lorelai.

"Grandma asked for this?" asks Rory.

"Yeah and I'm pretty sure Dad doesn't even want to go."

"Do we have to?" asks Mia.

"It means a lot to grandma." says Lorelai.

"Come on. Maybe it'll be fun." says Rory.

"Do people even know what fun means?" says Lorelai.

"Will you need help with the wedding at the inn, Mom?" asks Mia.

"Oh nice try, kiddo. Truly inspired. But I'll be fine at the inn."

"Ok I guess we're going golfing." says Mia.

* * *

"So here we are." says Richard, as they walk into the club.

"Wow, pretty." says Mia.

"And prestigious." says Richard, proudly. "The club is a very important place."

"Are we important enough to be here, grandpa?" asks Rory.

Richard looks at her and smiles. "Of course you are."

When they reach the first hole, Richard claps his hands. "Who wants to go first?" he says.

Rory gives Mia a little push forwards. "Youngest first!" she says.

Mia glares at her and walks up to the tee. Richard adjusts her to help her hit the ball.

"Now swing." he says, standing back.

Mia swings the golf club and it comes loose in her hands and flies down the green.

"Oops." she says, and she starts heading down to pick it up.

"No, no Mia stay here. Let the cart guys get it. I pay a lot of money for this club and it's the job of those guys to get the ball and anything else that ends up in the green." explains Richard.

"Oh." says Mia. "Sorry."

"Oh no, my girl, you don't need to be sorry, you've never been here before, you're learning and I think you're doing marvellously."

"Thanks grandpa." says Mia.

"Right, now Rory's turn." says Richard. Rory walks up to the tee and takes a club. "Good natural grip!" says Richard, impressed. Rory swings and hits the ball, it flies onto the green.

"Well done, Rory!" says Richard, clapping. "With a bit of practice, you could give me a run for my money."

"Oh, well, of course Rory's a natural." says Mia.

Richard smiles at her and walks over. He puts an arm around her and says softly "Mia I think you're incredible. You got up there and did your best and for that I'm proud. When I was nine I don't think I knew the difference between a golf club and a night club." He looks at Rory. "It must be hard to have a sister who everyone thinks is so remarkable."

Mia looks at him. "Am I a terrible person for wishing she'd fail at something, just once?"

Richard laughs. "Mia I think you're remarkable and so does your mother, grandmother and Rory."

Mia smiles. "She is pretty cool."

* * *

"Wow you really saw the Mona Lisa in real life!" says Mia, her eyes wide.

Mia, Rory and Richard are all sitting in a restaurant at the club.

Richard nods. "It was very small but I did manage to get a picture of it,"

"Wow!" says Mia "Can I see it?"

"Of course!" says Richard. "I'll show it to you on Friday at dinner. Now Rory, what are you studying at school at the moment?"

"Oh lots of things." says Rory.

"Boring things." says Mia.

"They're not boring!" says Rory. Mia gives her a look. "Ok some are boring but not all of them. In English Literature we're studying the greatest Russian writers,"

"You know I have a beautiful copy of Master and Man, one of Tolstoy's short stories,"

"Well I'd love to see it." says Rory,

"Well there we are then, something for both of you. I've very much enjoyed our outing, girls." he says as the drinks arrive. He lifts his glass. "To many more!"

"To many more!" say both girls.

* * *

"Oh my babies!" says Lorelai, running into Luke's. "My poor babies, how was it? I brought you cake."

"It was fine, Mom." says Rory.

"Oh honey, you're so sweet." says Lorelai. "Mia, how was it?"

"It really was fine, Mom. Actually, it was great! Grandpa's done some really cool stuff. Did you know he's seen the real Mona Lisa! He's gonna show me a picture on Friday."

"He's really smart, too. I think he could probably help me with my classes a lot. Help me catch up. How was the wedding?" Rory asks.

"Oh you know, the twins fiances were also twins."

"Weird." says Mia.

"Very." says Lorelai. "Did you at least get to wear cute clothes?"

"Nope." says Mia. "Golf clothes are definitely not cute."

"So it really was ok?"

"Yep." says Rory.

"It seems like you learnt more about him in one day than I learnt in 32 years."

"He did mention you, Mom." says Mia.

"He did?"

"Yeah he was talking to his friend and he told them all about you and how you run an inn. He looked so proud." says Mia.

"Really?" says Lorelai.

"He does love you, Mom." says Rory, softly.

"That's nice to know." says Lorelai.

* * *

 **Thanks so much for reading! Sorry this chapter is shorter. The next one will be longer. As always, I love feedback and I'm very open to any ideas. Next chapter goes up on Wednesday at 5(Uk time)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I tried to make it slightly longer. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Mia, Rory? Where are you?" says Lorelai as she walks into the house.

"I'm here, Mom." says Rory.

"What did you do with your sister?" asks Lorelai.

"She went next door."

"Babette or Harrison?" asks Lorelai.

"Take a wild guess."

"She sure does spend a lot of time at that boy's house."

"Yeah," says Rory. "They're best friends."

* * *

When Mia leaves Harrison's she turns to him.

"You wanna come round tomorrow evening?" she asks. "Mom, Rory, Lane and I were thinking about pulling an all-nighter and watching the greatest movies of all time because it's not a school night."

"Sure. What are 'the greatest movies of all time.'" he asks.

"Oh, you know, the classics. _Casablanca, Charlie and the chocolate factory, Titanic.."_

"Sounds fun!"

"Maybe I'll invite Clara along, too." says Mia, more to herself than to anyone else.

"You know," says Harrison. "I think I actually might be busy tomorrow evening. Anyway, this sounds like a girl thing."

"That never mattered before." says Mia, confused. "Besides, you know you're an honorary Gilmore girl on movie nights."

"Sorry, Mia, I can't. I don't want to be an 'honorary Gilmore girl' tomorrow" he says walking back indoors. "You should probably get home. It's late"

Mia stands on Harrison's porch, feeling very upset and confused.

* * *

"So, who wants to come?" Lorelai asks her daughters as they sit together eating Chinese food on Monday night.

"To a meeting about Rory's exams?" says Mia.

"Yeah it'll be fun!" says Lorelai, unconvincingly. "Oh come on! Don't make me go alone. All the Chilton moms hate me. At least if one of you comes I have someone to talk to and a conversation point." The girls look at her. "Please." Lorelai begs.

"You're so needy," says Rory with a smile. "I can't I have to study."

Lorelai looks at Mia, imploringly.

"Fine I'll come but I get to pick which takeout I want afterwards." she says.

"Yay!" says Lorelai. "Thanks baby. But you do kinda owe."

"For what?" asks Mia.

"Oh you know, raising you, feeding you, buying you clothes. You can pay in cash, card or favours."

"You're exhausting, do you know that?" says Rory.

"I do and I take pride in it."

* * *

Lorelai and Mia turn up at the meeting late, of course.

"I told you, Mom! We should've left earlier."

"Shh lecture later, kid, time to sneak in the back."

"Huh," says Lorelai as they're about to go in.

"What?" asks Mia.

"I've just never snuck _into_ a school before."

"Come on." says Mia, pulling her sleeve.

When they get inside, Lorelai makes a beeline for the coffee cart and Mia stands with her, awkwardly, unsure what to do.

"Go find us a seat." Lorelai whispers to her.

Mia finds two empty seats next to each other. She sits in the one closest to this other woman so as not to look rude. The woman looks at Mia with disgust. _Just as I was thinking of rudeness..._ Mia thinks. Lorelai sits down next to her and listens to the rest of the information. Mia looks over at Lorelai a couple of times to see that she is staring at the English teacher. Mia looks at him. _Not bad._ She thinks. _Mom could do worse._ After the meeting is over, Lorelai walks over and starts talking to the teacher. Mia considers going up with her and introducing herself but she decides to stay back and leave Mom to it.

Mia wanders around, looking at the famous quotes from famous authors and the pictures of them. She finds one painting of Shakespeare which she thinks is particularly beautiful, with it's incredible brushwork.

"Are you a Shakespeare fan?" asks someone behind her, breaking her chain of thought. She turns around to see the teacher. Mia looks for her mother.

"She's just gone to find a bin for her coffee cup." he says, sensing her panic. "I've never met someone so young who was interested in Shakespeare."

"Oh I'm not really. I was just admiring the painting." she says. "I love art." she adds by way of explanation.

"I see." says the teacher. "Well this particular painting has beautiful brushwork."

"That's just what I was thinking!" says Mia.

"Well you have a good eye. I'm Mr Medina, by the way, but I don't teach you so you can call me Max."

"Hello Max," says Mia, shaking his hand.

"Oh kid," says Lorelai, walking back in. "I see you met Max."

"Yeah." says Mia, smiling at him.

"Well, we'd love to stay but I told Rory we'd be back twenty minutes ago and Mia has to go to bed. Nice to meet you, Max."

"You too." says Max.

"Bye Max!" says Mia.

"Goodbye, Mia is it?"

Mia nods as Lorelai takes her outside.

"Sorry I abandoned you in there, kiddo but you looked so happy staring into the big, blue eyes of William Shakespeare that I thought I'd leave you two alone."

"That's fine I was talking to Max." says Mia. There's silence for a while and Mia smiles at Lorelai.

"What?" Lorelai finally asks. "You've been staring at me, smiling, for ages!"

"You like him, don't you?" Mia says.

"Who? Max?! No don't be silly."

"You like him!" says Mia.

"Was it that obvious?" asks Lorelai.

"I don't think so." says Mia. "It was probably just me who noticed. I think he's a good choice. I like him."

"You do? Oh Mia, don't go getting attached, that's never good. You know I try to keep my love life separate from you."

"I know but I'm not a baby anymore, Mom."

"Fine we'll see how it goes. Do me a favour and don't tell Rory."

"Ok. Does it count as payment for my nine years of care?"

"Sure." says Lorelai.

* * *

When Mia gets home on Wednesday she goes straight to her room and stays there for about half an hour. Eventually, Lorelai knocks on her door.

"What's going on kid, it's been quiet in here for a while. You ok?"

"Yeah," says Mia, with a fake smile.

"No, you're not." says Lorelai, sitting next to her on the bed.

"How do you know?"

"I told you. My secret Mommy powers." Mia looks at her. "You're my kid, I just know. What's wrong?"

"I'm losing him." says Mia.

"Who?"

"Harrison!" says Mia. "We used talk and hang out all the time but now I hardly ever see him. Whenever I go over to his house his Mom says he's out but I know that's not true because Harrison likes to stay at home after school and do his homework. At school he never comes near me. He's avoiding me, Mom and I have no idea why because he never lets me get close enough to ask. I don't know what's going on, I can't think!"

She lays down with her head on Lorelai's lap.

"Rant over?" asks Lorelai.

Mia nods.

"Hey," says Lorelai, softly, stroking her hair. "Are you guys in a fight?"

"It seems like it." says Mia. "If we are I'd like to know what about so I can fix it cus I hate this. I don't what I did."

"Hey now, I'm sure you didn't do anything."

Mia lays still on Lorelai's lap for a while.

"Maybe I should just let him go." says Mia.

"What?" says Lorelai.

"Well he clearly doesn't want to be friends anymore maybe I should just let him go."

"No." says Lorelai, "Nah uh no way."

"Why not?" asks Mia.

"People don't just get to walk in and out of your life as they please. I won't let that happen. They need to have a proper reason for leaving."

"Dad didn't have a reason." says Mia.

Lorelai breathes in, sharply, shocked by this. "Sweetie, Dad didn't leave."

"Yeah but he's not our lives and he doesn't have a reason."

"I know." says Lorelai. "And I hate that everyday. I don't want you to feel the same."

"Well then, how do I fix this?" asks Mia.

"Hey kid I know this may sound crazy but why don't you talk to him,"

"He's avoiding me."

"You'll find a way." says Lorelai. "Now come on, let's go watch a movie or something and let Rory study in the bedroom."

"Ok," says Mia. "She studies all the time."

"Yeah," says Lorelai. "I'm so proud of her."

They walk out into the kitchen where Rory is sitting at the table, studying.

"Hey kid, the bedroom's free of you want to study in there." says Lorelai

"Oh no thanks Mom, I'm set up in here."

Lorelai smiles at her. "We were just talking about how proud we were of you."

"Thanks." says Rory.

Lorelai walks into the living room but Mia hangs back.

"I think you're great, Rory." she says, before joining Lorelai in the living room.

"Yeah, well, apparently not." Rory whispers to herself, looking at the last paper she just wrote which is stamped with a formidable, red D. _D for doom_ she thinks as she picks up yet another page of notes.

* * *

Lorelai sighs, deeply. It's been a very long day. They had all overslept which had resulted in Mia being late to school, Rory getting hit by a deer and both Lorelai and Rory shouting their heads off at Chilton. Now Lorelai's at Mia's school to pick her up.

Mia runs out of school and hops down the steps. She smiles when she sees Lorelai and wraps her arms around her mom.

"I missed you." she says. "Miss Pages wants to speak to you. I'm not in trouble, am I?" she asks, worried.

"Did you do anything to get into trouble?" Lorelai asks her. Mia shakes her head. "Then you'll be fine." says Lorelai. "Go on over to the diner and I'll meet you there later, ok?"

"Ok. Bye Mommy!" says Mia. She skips over to Luke's. Lorelai watches her go, her heart melting. Sometimes she feels an intense wave of love do her daughters for very random reasons. Just Mia calling her 'Mommy' instead of 'Mom' made tears come to her eyes.

Lorelai pulls herself back together and tells herself not to be so sentimental before walking in to see Mia's teacher. She knocks on the door.

"Ah hello, Ms Gilmore." says Miss Payes with a smile.

"Call me Lorelai, please." says Lorelai, shaking her hand. "Ms Gilmore makes me feel so old!"

"Okay Lorelai, please take a seat."

Lorelai sits down.

"Now," says Miss Payes. "I called you in here to talk about Mia. I'm worried about her. Don't get me wrong, her grades are perfect, as always. She's a very intelligent girl, that daughter of yours."

"Thank you, Miss Payes," says Lorelai, smiling proudly.

"Please, call me Lisa."

"Thank you, Lisa,"

"Yes Mia's very bright so you've got nothing to worry about there. She's also very intuitive. She can always tell what people are thinking and feeling."

"I know," says Lorelai. "It's kinda scary, actually!"

"I imagine it can be when you live with her!" says Lisa, laughing. "Anyway, I really asked you in today to talk about her well-being. While this intuitive quality is a good thing that makes Mia very a likeable and friendly girl it also means that when she gets hurt emotionally it can really affect her."

"Ok..." says Lorelai, not quite understanding. Lisa sees this and continues.

"As you are probably aware, Mia has a very strong friendship with Harrison Porter. She seems to get on well enough with other students but Harrison is really her only proper friend. Recently, they stopped talking to each other, quite suddenly. Mia now just seems very lonely. She used to completely engage with her work and now all she does is stare at the clock. Whenever I talk to her she always talks about you and Rory. I'm worried she's lonely."

"Oh." says Lorelai. "I guess I never thought that I was making Mia too dependant on me. You're really worried about her?"

Lisa nods. "The only other person she sometimes talks to is Clara,"

"Clara?" says Lorelai. "Of course, Clara!" she says, putting the pieces together in her head. "Thanks for this, Lisa. I think I can fix this now, get Mia and Harrison talking again."

"See if you could get her to include Clara, too. Clara's lonely as well."

"Yeah. It would be great if she could have more friends. I've gotta get going now. Thank you, this was helpful."

"Goodbye Lorelai. Have a lovely evening."

* * *

Lorelai walks into the house in a panic, calling for Mia.

"Hey Mom." says Rory.

"Rory, I can't find Mia. I told her to meet me at Luke's after school and when I got there she was gone. I was hoping she'd come home.

"She's not here. Hey Mom you do know it's Thursday, don't you?"

"Of course I know it's Thursday."

"And in Thursdays at 4.30 Mia is..."

"Oh! At Sophie's music shop taking her piano lesson. Of course. Oh bless her, she must've gone all by herself." says Lorelai, feeling guilty. "You know I had a meeting with her teacher today."

"About what?"

"About how upset Mia seems now because she's fighting with Harrison. But while she was talking I figured out why Harrison's avoiding her. It's because now she talks to Clara, Harrison feels pushed out. I understand that. It's just been him and Mia for so long now."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"Of course. She'll know how to fix it. Come here, give your mommy a hug." Rory hugs her. "How was your day?" Lorelai says, still holding Rory.

"It was ok."

They break apart and Lorelai looks at Rory, who's looking upset.

"What?" she says.

"I got a D on a paper." says Rory. "A while ago actually."

"Oh Rory, honey, you'll be fine. You're still learning." Lorelai smiles at her and rubs her back. "Hey why didn't you tell me before? You didn't think I'd be disappointed, did you?"

"No I just... I don't know."

"Anything else I should know?"

"I kissed Dean." Rory says, quickly. She looks down then peeps up at Lorelai to see her expression. Lorelai stays expressionless. There is silence for a while.

"I already knew." says Lorelai. "Mia told me. But thank you for telling me,"

Then Lorelai turns and walks out the kitchen. Once she's got her back to Rory, she smiles. _She told me._ Thinks Lorelai, smiling to herself.

* * *

 **Thanks so much for reading this chapter. Next chapter will hopefully be up on Sunday at two. I'm nearly on summer holiday now which means I will have loads more time to write❤️Please, please, please leave feedback!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you so much for all the feedback so far. I'm so so sorry that this chapter is so late and not very long! I've been on a flight so I couldn't upload. I am really enjoying writing this story so I hope you are enjoying reading it. Happy reading!**

* * *

Outside the Gilmore mansion on a Friday evening is the last place any of the Gilmore's want to be. The three of them have had an intense week and dinner with Emily and Richard is definitely not the best way to unwind.

Rory has not talked to her Mom since she told her about Dean. She has no idea about whether or not they're fighting or if her Mom is mad that she didn't tell her about the whole Dean thing. This is on top of the stress with school. Rory's also a little mad at Mia for snitching on her to Mom when Mia saw Rory and Dean kissing but there hasn't been time to talk about that yet.

Lorelai hasn't had time to tell Mia what she figured out yesterday evening about Harrison. When Mia came home after her music lesson last night she went straight to bed and Lorelai had to get up early for work this morning. _I need to talk to Rory too._ she realises.

Mia is still very upset about Harrison. School today was horrible because she was by herself all the time. Mia's beginning to notice the Harrison-shaped hole iner life and she's not in the best mood. She also senses a different kind of vibe between Lorelai and Rory now so she figured Rory told Lorelai about Dean or Lorelai confronted her. Either way, Rory is probably not to pleased with Mia right now.

The girls must've have been standing outside the house, lost in their own thoughts for a while because eventually Emily opens the door to see if they've arrived.

"Lorelai!" she cries. "You're late! And what on earth are you doing standing out here on the porch? It's freezing."

"We're channeling Frosty, Mom."

"Frosty?"

"You know, grandma. _Frosty the snowman..._ " Mia sings.

"Don't answer back, dear, I would've your mother taught you that." she glares at Lorelai, who puts her hands up in a mock surrender.

"But grandma you asked so..."

"There you go again, Mia. Honestly, Lorelai, have you taught her no manners?"

"Yeah Mom I taught her not to go into someone's house without being invited and she's doing great at that."

"Stop being silly, Lorelai and come inside at once before those poor girls catch frostbite." says Emily, dropping the argument. There's no use fighting with Lorelai right now. They haven't even had drinks yet.

* * *

"So, Rory how's school?" asks Emily.

"School's fine, thank you, grandma."

"Have you made any friends yet? Friends are very important, you know."

"I know." says Rory. "I haven't made friends with anybody at Chilton but I have friends in Stars Hollow. And I haven't been at Chilton long."

"Well I know a few friends who have children or grandchildren at Chilton. I could ask them to say hello to you if you'd like." says Emily.

"We'll that's very nice of you grandma but..."

"It's social suicide." says Lorelai, finishing her sentence for her.

"What do you mean by that, Lorelai?" says Emily

"Mom, what kid wants their grandma to set them up with friends." says Lorelai. "Besides, Rory's Rory. She'll make friends on her own."

"I wasn't saying she couldn't, Lorelai, I was just offering to help. Maybe if you'd helped her straight away she wouldn't be lonely now," says Emily.

"Grandma, I'm not lonely..." says Rory.

"Mom, if she'd needed help she would've asked and then I'd help her in a way that's not going to embarrass her." says Lorelai.

"What and you know exactly what's embarrassing for Rory?" says Emily.

"Well yeah I have a pretty good idea."

"Listen Rory. Forget your mother. Would you like help?"

"Thank you grandma, but I'm good for now." says Rory, politely.

"There!" says Emily, triumphantly. "She didn't need you to speak for her, did she? Now, Mia, onto you. How are things going?"

"Good, good." says Mia.

"So nothing to report?" says Emily. Lorelai looks at Mia, wondering if she's going to tell Emily about Harrison.

"Nope!" says Mia, with a smile. _I have trained her well._ Lorelai smiles to herself.

"Right!" says Emily. "Time to eat!"

* * *

"That was the longest, most boring evening of my life!" sighs Lorelai.

"I've heard you call Friday night dinners many things but boring has not been one of them." says Rory.

"It was just the DAR, owl conservation and then more DAR, from salad to ice cream." says Lorelai.

"Wait I missed the owl conservation discussion! Why am I always in the bathroom when the good topics come up." says Mia.

"Come on, let's get home."

Once the girls are back at the house, Rory heads into the bedroom to study. Mia is about to follow her when Lorelai holds her back.

"Hun, can I talk to you?" asks Lorelai.

"Yeah sure. Am I in trouble? Is this what you were talking to Miss Payes about. I never found out what that was about."

"You're not in trouble, sweetie, but it is about what Miss Payes talked about." says Lorelai. "She called me in to talk because she was worried about. She said you seemed lonely now because of the thing with Harrison."

"I'm not lonely, Mom, I've got you and Rory."

"I know sweetie but you're smart and you know you need friends your own age."

"I know." says Mia, sadly. "But I don't really want to be friends with anyone except Harrison."

"Ok well that's the other thing I wanted to tell you. I figured out why Harrison's avoiding you."

"Why? Why? Tell me, Mom!"

"Ok calm down. I think he probably just feels pushed out because you're more friendly with Clara, now. Maybe he thinks you want to be friends with her or that you just want friends who are girls and stuff." Lorelai pauses and takes a breath. "What are you thinking kid?"

"I get it now." says Mia. "Oh poor Harrison."

"What you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna have to ambush him or something and tell him I still wanna be friends. Of course I do!"

"What about Clara?" asks Lorelai.

"What about her?" asks Mia.

"Well do you like her? Do you wanna be her friend?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But that doesn't matter, Harrison comes first. Always."

"Mia who says you can't be friends with both. You're all smart enough to make that work."

"Could I try that?" asks Mia.

"Sure you could, sweetie, but not now, it's late. Time for bed."

* * *

Rory! Do you wanna lift to school?" shouts Lorelai.

"Nah I'm good I'm meeting Dean before school." says Rory.

"What! You prefer to spend time with Dean instead of me?"

"Well I live with you and a barely ever get away from you. Also, you don't kiss as good."

"You don't know that." says Lorelai, smirking.

"That's what I choose to believe."

"Ok Rory, see ya later." says Lorelai, walking her out. "What about you Mia? You wanna lift?"

"No thanks I'm gonna go talk to Harrison."

"Oh." says Lorelai, softening. "Do you know what you're gonna say?" Mia shakes her head. "Not really." she says. "But I'll make it up as I go along. I'm good at improvising."

"Ok kid, well I'll see you later." says Lorelai, walking Mia out. Then she looks around her empty house. "A glimpse into the future," Lorelai murmers to herself, looking around her empty house.

* * *

 **Thanks again for reading! Please leave reviews and feedback because it helps me improve. Next chapter is up on Wednesday at 5 U.K. time as usual.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you all so much for your support and feedback on the last chapters. To make up for the last chapter being so short(and late! Sorry!), this is quite a long one. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lorelai walks into the house and puts her keys on the table.

"Ok." she says loudly and to no one in particular. "I got Pippi Longstocking or Singing in the rain. What's it gonna be?" There's no answer. "Hey kids. Where are you?" There's still no reply. "Hmm." says Lorelai, walking over to the couch. On the coffee table there's a note from Mia:

 _Gone to meet Harrison after his soccer practice. Rory went to the market to see Dean. She says she will be back by 8._

Lorelai looks at the clock. 8.15. It's very unlike Rory to be late. To distract herself, Lorelai wanders into the kitchen and makes pop tarts and pizza rolls. She pours chips into a bowl and puts all the food on the coffee table. 8.30 and still no Rory. Lorelai hears the door open.

"Rory!" she cries.

"Wrong daughter." says Mia, then she notices Lorelai's face. "Why do you look disappointed?"

"I'm not. I'm just... and Rory is...It's nothing. Hey, did you talk to Harrison?"

"No!" says Mia, exasperated. "I think he must've skipped practice today because I asked one of the others and they said he didn't come today." she sits down on the couch. Lorelai tilts her head sideways, thinking. Then she sits next to Mia.

"You want me to do something, kid? You know, talk to someone, pull a few strings. I can be a full-on puppet master if it will help."

"That's ok, Mom."

"Are you sure because I can talk to Harrison's mom and..."

"Mom, please don't get involved with this. I'll fix it, ok?" says Mia.

"Ok."

"No seriously Mom I don't want any help."

"I said ok!" says Lorelai, indignantly.

"Yeah but I know you and you can't be trusted not to get involved."

"I'll stay out of it, I promise."

"Thank you." says Mia. The front door opens again and this time it is Rory.

"Hey Rory," says Mia, cheerfully.

"Oh umm... hey." says Rory, awkwardly. "Mia can you give us a minute?" Mia looks at her, confused. "What could you be talking about that's a secret from _me."_

"You'll understand when you're older." says Rory.

"Oh come on! That's such a stupid saying and I hate it."

"Just scram, kid" says Rory. Mia turns sharply and leaves.

"Hey, hey what was that about?" asks Lorelai

"Nothing." says Rory. "I just wanted to let you know that I was out with Dean today."

"Ok, cool." says Lorelai. "Mia left me a note so I knew where you were."

"Of course she did," says Rory, under her breath.

"What was that?" asks Lorelai.

"Nothing."

"There's an awful lot of that about today."

"Just checking you're ok with me seeing Dean." says Rory, shyly.

"Well it's not my choice..."

"I know." says Rory. "But it's important to me that you like him."

"I really want to." says Lorelai. "And we're fine, kid, we're not fighting."

"Thanks, Mom."

* * *

Rory walks into her bedroom and Mia bounces up to her.

"What were you and Mom talking about?" she asks.

"It doesn't matter, Mia it's none of your business." says Rory.

"Oh." says Mia, hurt. They usually share everything so this is unusual. "Ok. Do you wanna play a game or listen to music or talk?"

"You know what?" says Rory. "Let's talk."

"Ok!" says Mia, happily. Then she picks up on Rory's tone. "What about?" she asks more tentatively. Rory sees that she's slightly more nervous and takes pity on her. She sits on the bed next to Mia.

"You had to tell Mom about Dean, didn't you? I mean you couldn't keep that secret?" she says. "I was gonna tell her myself eventually."

"Oh." says Mia. "I'm sorry I didn't really think."

"I know, kid."

"I just kinda freaked out when I saw you kissing Dean and I had to talk to someone. You're lucky, I could've gone to Clara! I couldn't have kept that secret from Mom, Rory. She'd know I was keeping something from her."

"It's alright, Mia." says Rory. "I get it. I'm not really mad. I guess I was just shocked when Mom told me she already knew."

"So, how is Dean?" says Mia, smirking.

"He's fine." says Rory, shyly. Mia smiles.

"You really like him, don't you?"

Rory smiles and nods.

* * *

Mia stands outside Harrison's house at 8.25. Five minutes before Harrison leaves for school. _He can't skip school_ she thinks.

At 8.30 on the dot, Mia hears Harrison footsteps coming towards the door and her heartbeat quickens. This plan is full-proof. Harrison is always on time. He's so reliable. That's one of her favourite things about him.

He opens the door and sees Mia. Both kids stand in silence, shocked to see each other after not speaking for so long. When they decide to speak, they both go at the same time.

"No, no you go first." says Mia.

"Mia I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad I just..." he squirms visibly.

Mia walks over to her best friend and wraps her arms around his neck. She hugs him tight. "I really want to be your friend again, Harrison. I miss you." she whispers into his ear.

"I miss you too."

Mia pulls back. "My mom thinks our 'fight' was to do with Clara. Was it?"

"Probably." says Harrison.

"What do you mean 'probably'?" asks Mia.

"I honestly don't know what was going on with me, Mia. I was always so paranoid."

"Big word. Well done." says Mia.

"I know, thank you." says Harrison, smiling. "Somehow, I managed to convince myself that you didn't want me there and that you'd be happier without me. I thought you'd be happier with Clara."

"Oh but I wasn't!" cries Mia. "Did you know Miss Payes even called my mom in because she was worried. She thought I was unhappy and I was!"

"Really? Oh jeez, Mia, I'm sorry. I've been really stupid. I totally did not think about this at all."

"Well you have been stupid..."

"Mia please forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you, Harrison."

Harrison sighs with relief. "Thank you. You're my best friend, you know that?"

"And you're mine. But Harrison, without you I was so lonely. Maybe we should try expanding our friendship group."

"You mean to include Clara?" asks Harrison. Mia nods.

"I really like her and you will too. She's lonely too, Harrison. Please? For me?"

"Ok." says Harrison. "I do owe you massively."

"Yay! Thank you!" Mia squeals, pulling Harrison into another hug. "Come on. Let's walk to school together."

"No." says Harrison.

"What?"

"We've been talking for ages. We need to _run_ to school together"

Mia giggles and takes his hand. "Race ya." she says, taking off out of the driveway.

"That's totally not fair! Mia Hope Gilmore, you're a cheat!"

* * *

When Mia gets home from school and hanging out with Harrison, she runs inside, excited to tell Lorelai she had made up with her best friend. They hadn't talked to Clara yet, but Harrison probably needed one normal day before they shake things up.

"Mom?" she calls. Mia looks around the whole house but no one's there. She walks out onto the patio and sees Harrison and his mom walking by her house.

"Hey stranger!" she calls to him. "Long time no see!" Normally Harrison would smile at her but he looks somber.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Mia darling, Cinnamon died." says Harrison's mom, Susie.

"What?" says Mia. "Oh poor Morey and Babette."

"It's terrible, I know." says Susie. "Are you coming over, sweetheart? They're having a wake."

"Of course! That's probably where my mom is. I'll just grab some flowers then I'll be over."

"Ok darling, see you later." says Susie.

"Bye Mia." says Harrison.

Mia runs inside and grabs a bouquet. When she opens the door, Max is in front of it, about to knock.

"For me?" he smiles, seeing the flowers.

"Max! Hi!" says Mia, shocked. "What are you doing here? Sorry that sounded rude."

"No it's fine. I'm here to pick up your mom for our date. I'm guessing she hasn't told you."

"Well I knew there was something there but...I didn't know...I didn't think..."

"Mia, it's fine. Where is your mom?" asks Max

"Oh she's next door at a wake."

"A wake? Oh I'm so sorry."

"No it's fine." says Mia. "It's for a um... cat."

"A cat?" says Max.

"Listen, just stay here and I'll get her."

Mia runs next door and finds Rory on the porch, watching the whole exchange.

"What was that about?" she asks.

"I can't really tell you." says Mia.

"Mia, come on!" says Rory.

"I'll explain later." says Mia. "I have to find mom."

"He's here to see mom? Am I in trouble?"

"Rory, I'm sure Mom will talk to you later but please, I need to find her. Can you hold these?" Mia hands Rory the bouquet.

* * *

"Mom!" says Mia. "Max is outside our house. What the hell is he doing here?"

"Language!" says Lorelai. "Wait Max is here? Of course! Max is here..." she sighs.

"Mom! What's going on are you two dating now? What are you going to tell Rory?"

"I'll explain later I have to talk to Max." she says, leaving.

"Man that is annoying." Mia says to herself.

* * *

"Hey Mia." says Dean.

"Hey Dean."

"So I um.. wanted to thank you." he says.

"For what?" asks Mia.

"Talking to Clara, making her feel welcome. She talks about you all the time. My family and I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome." says Mia, smiling.

"Do you know where Rory is?" asks Dean.

"Yeah I think she went outside."

"Thanks Mia."

* * *

Later that evening when Lorelai has rounded up both her daughters, she sits them on the couch and takes a deep breath.

"So here's the deal." she says. "Max and I went for coffee together. Not formal at all just kind of a 'pre-date' if you will. We planned to go out on a proper date and I planned to tell you, Rory, the deal and catch up, you, Mia. But with the wake I forgot about that. I really like Max, otherwise I wouldn't do this to you, Rory. I wouldn't make things difficult for you. Now just because I like him it doesn't mean he's here to stay. I don't want you to get too attached. I know that's hard for you, Rory, cus he's your teacher but can you try? For me?"

Lorelai takes a deep breath.

"Coming up for air?" asks Mia.

"Yeah yeah I'm kind of exhausted now." says Lorelai. "So?"

"So what? You're dating my teacher. There's nothing I can do about it except feel really weird."

"Rory, that's not true. Oh Rory come back!" she calls as Rory walks into the bedroom.

"I need time to think about this!" Rory calls back.

Lorelai sighs and turns to Mia. "What about you?"

"I wish you hadn't asked me to keep it from Rory." Mia says, softly. Then she follows Rory into the bedroom, leaving Lorelai standing alone in the living room.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! As always I love any feedback or ideas you can give me. Especially if you have any thoughts on what should happen next. Thanks again!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey!** **Here's** **chapter nine😱. Next chapter is chapter 10 so I'll probably do something special. Enjoy!**

* * *

The rest of Thursday evening and Friday morning is very quiet in the Gilmore house. Rory and Mia have locked themselves in their bedroom to think things over. Between them, they've barely said two words to Lorelai. They are talking amongst themselves, however.

"I just can't believe Mom's got a boyfriend. She hasn't had a serious relationship since Dad, before you were born." says Mia. "Maybe this is a good thing for her?"

"It is a good thing." says Rory. "I don't want her to be lonely. I'm happy she found someone I just wish she didn't find my teacher. Anybody else in the whole world would've been fine. Anybody except my teacher." Rory sighs. "Am I being horrible about this?"

Mia looks at her with her big blue eyes. "What do you think?"

"I want her to be happy because that's what makes me happy. I'm happy she's happy but I'm not happy. Does that make sense?"

Mia hands her a twizzler in response.

"What if it doesn't work out? Or people at school find out? That will make things at school even worse than they already are."

Mia hands her another twizzler in silence.

"Mia! Kid! Speak. Give me some feedback here!"

"Are we gonna give Mom the cold shoulder forever?"

"Of course not. Don't be stupid." says Rory, dismissively. "Come on. Tell me what you think about this. You always look at things a different way and I wanna know what you see!"

"I get what you're saying..." says Mia.

"But..." prompts Rory.

"Mom has done pretty much nothing except work and look after us for almost fifteen years. Now we're older and we go to school so we don't need twenty four hour care, don't you think Mom deserves to be happy and have fun and make up for the years of craziness she missed out on raising us?" says Mia.

"You know you're always right about these things." says Rory. "It's annoying how accurate you are."

"And I do it all while looking fabulous!" smiles Mia. Rory smirks. "What's that supposed to mean?" says Mia, jumping up and trying to walk like a catwalk model. Rory trips her up and that's how Lorelai finds her two daughters. In a giggling heap on the floor.

"Well hey there tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee!" she says. The girls pick themselves and stop giggling. Lorelai continues to talk anyway. "Girls, I hate this. It feels like it's been forever since none of us were fighting. This isn't like us. We're the Gilmore girls! Come on, kiddos, what do you say?"

Mia runs straight over to Lorelai and hugs her. Rory hesitates for a moment, then joins them.

* * *

"So now things with Harrison are all good." says Mia, finishing her story, before they leave for Friday night dinner.

"Well yeah for now." says Lorelai.

"What?" says Mia.

"Well kid if he freaked out so much about you potentially making another friend, how do you know he won't do it again?"

"I...,don't." says Mia. "And I know that I could get hurt but... I believe he won't do that to me again.

"Well if you're ok with that..."

"I am." says Mia.

"Good. I just want you to be happy, kid."

"I am." smiles Mia. "Are you?"

Lorelai smiles. "I'm never deeply unhappy because I'm very lucky but right now I'm super happy." she says, smiling more and tilting down her chin.

"Because of Max?" asks Mia.

"Yes." says Lorelai. "And because if you." she reaches over to try and pinch Mia's cheek. Mia leans away.

"I may actually bite off your finger if you try that."

"Oh you're feisty." she says, in a baby voice. "Well that just makes you even cuter, my little Mia." Lorelai continues to smother Mia, who is trying to squirm away. "Oh is baby wiggly today! Are you a wiggly baby?"

"Hey!" says Rory. "I hate to interrupt whatever this is..." she says, looking judgementally at the scene in front of her before choosing to ignore it and move on. "But I wanted to remind you that next week is my birthday."

"Ooh! The anniversary of pain and torture day! I can't believe I almost forgot!" says Lorelai

"No you didn't." says Rory. "You've been planning it for weeks."

"How do you know? Is there no mystery in our relationship anymore?" says Lorelai.

"You're not in the right mood to discuss arrangements now." says Rory, smiling and shaking her head.

"What arrangements?" asks Lorelai.

"The arrangements for my birthday."

"I thought we were just gonna have a party here like always." says Mia

"Yeah but grandma also wants to throw me a party and I was just wondering if you wanted to have your party on my actual birthday because that would be harder and later because of Friday night dinner or..." she trails off. "You didn't know about this did you?"

"Grandma's throwing you a party? I had no idea! Was she even going to invite me?"

"Hey don't shoot the messenger." says Rory. "Take this up with grandma, if you must. Just give me a five minute heads up so I've got some time to get far away." says Rory.

"Very far away." adds Mia.

"Oh come on! Grandma and I aren't that bad, are we?" asks Lorelai

"That's because you're in the eye of the storm." points out Rory.

"I can't believe she'd do this! I actually thought that for once she'd be reasonable and let us have next Friday off. I mean it's Rory's birthday, for god's sake!" says Lorelai, then she looks at Rory. "Aw kid, I'm sorry you have to spend your birthday in Hartford. I'll make it up to you, though, I promise. We'll have one of my infamous Stars Hollow parties on Saturday. Sound good?"

"Yeah that's fine." says Rory

"So what you wanna do on Saturday. I mean, I've already got some things planned but is there anything you want to add?" asks Lorelai.

"Well I assume you've got music..."

"Of course." says Lorelai.

"But I was wondering if I could have live music."

"Oh." says Lorelai. "I guess I could find some small band or something to play but it's short notice and they might not be that good."

"I already had someone in mind..." says Rory, smiling at Mia, who's gotten bored of the conversation and is fixing her dress in the mirror.

"I see..." says Lorelai, smiling at Mia, also. Mia turns around.

"Why are you smiling at me like the joker? asks Mia.

"You know you said you wanted to sing in front of people after you missed the talent show?"

"No." says Mia "No way."

"Come on, Mia! It's only family and friends." says Lorelai.

"No, it won't be, though, because it will be a 'Lorelai Gilmore Party' which means the whole town will show up."

"Mia, just think about, please." pleads Rory.

"Fine, I'm thinking, I'm reviewing the situation, consider me Fagin!"

"I think you should consider yourself well in." says Lorelai with a smirk, Rory chokes on her drink laughing.

* * *

Dinner so far is going well. Quiet but well. They have already exhausted all the normal topics like school, the DAR, the food and the inn and now the five of them, including Richard, are eating in silence.

"So, Rory!" says Emily. "How lucky next Friday is your birthday! We are going to throw a little party for you!"

"Five minute heads up, girls." Lorelai murmurs, under her breath.

"Bye!" says Mia, shooting out of her chair and into her grandfather's study.

"Will you excuse us, for a minute?" asks Rory, politely, before following.

"Well what was that about?" Rory hears Emily's voice saying. Once she gets into the study with Mia, she can only hear voices, not words. The voices get louder and angrier.

"Uh oh," says Mia

"You can't let us have one night off, Mom!" they hear Lorelai, yelling

"No!" Emily yells back. "Friday is my night!"

"I hate that my birthday is causing this." says Rory. "It's supposed to be a good thing!"

Mia looks at Rory, who is looking very dejected and upset.

"If I sang at your birthday, would it make that face go away?" says Mia, with a sigh.

"Really?"

"If I were you I'd be quick to thank me or I might change my mind."

"Thank you, Mia." says Rory, sincerely. "And hey look, face gone! At least it will be if I'm allowed to pick the song."

"Seriously?"

"It's my special day!" says Rory.

"Ok whatever." says Mia. "Hey listen, no more shouting! Do you think it's safe to go out?"

Rory pokes her head out the door. "The coast is clear." she says and they both make their way, cautiously, back to the dining room, where Emily and Richard are smiling like nothing is happened and Lorelai is scowling.

"Would you like chocolate cake or Victoria Sponge?" Emily asks Rory, sweetly.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter! It means so much to me and it's so cool that people actually read what I write. I love reading reviews so any feedback is always welcome, especially ideas on what should happen in chapter ten. Also, I'm considering making changes to the upload schedule so if you have thoughts on that, please leave them in the reviews, thank you!**


	10. Chapter 10 part 1

**Hey guys, it's chapter 10! We made it! Happy reading.**

* * *

Lorelai and Sookie are sitting in the the kitchen of the Independance inn discussing food for Rory's party.

"I can't believe I'm doing this for Rory's sweet sixteen!" giggles Sookie. "It seems like yesterday I was teaching her to make mud pies."

"I know. It's scary, huh?" says Lorelai. "She's turning into a little adult and I haven't even noticed."

"Yeah she's so grown up." says Sookie. Then Mia walks in, back from school and starts eating the spare chocolate from a bowl.

"Then again," says Sookie. "One of them is still a little devil. Get your fingers off my chocolate, Mia!"

"But I'm just showing you how much I love your cooking, Sookie." Mia whines, playfully.

"That's not cooking and you know it." says Sookie. "Oh! I'll teach you how to cook if you want! We can be baking buddies!"

"Sorry Sookie, Mia inherited my inability to cook." says Lorelai.

"Oh you can't be that bad." says Sookie. "What've you made?"

"We made cookies once!" says Mia.

"Great! Then you can bake something." says Sookie.

"They exploded." says Lorelai.

"Oh well, never mind then." says Sookie. "Shall I make cookies for the party?"

"On top of the cake, cupcakes, biscuits and tarts that you're already making?"

"You're right. I should make cookies _and_ jello." says Sookie.

"We are going to drown in food." Lorelai whispers to Mia.

"What a way to die." Mia whispers back.

* * *

"Mom!" Rory yells, into the house.

"She's out with grandma." says Mia, coming out of the kitchen with a pop tart.

"I'm gonna kill grandma!" says Rory.

Mia is slightly shocked by this and the only thing she can think to say is "When?"

"Read this." says Rory, chucking a slip of card at her. Mia reads the card.

 _On the morning of October eighth at 4.03 in the morning, Emily and Richard Gilmore were blessed with a perfect baby granddaughter, Lorelai Leigh. Please join us this Friday to celebrate this joyous occasion. Seven o'clock. Black tie optional._

"What's wrong with this?" saus Mia. "Black tie is optional. That's casual for grandma."

"Oh there's no problem." says Rory, sarcastically. "It's a beautiful invite. Everyone at school who received an invite just like this agrees."

"She didn't." says Mia. "Oh Rory, I'm so so sorry. I didn't think she'd do this."

"This is so embarrassing. I'm never gonna live this down. Everybody's going to think I need my grandma to pick out my friends!"

Mia rubs her back, sympathetically.

"Wait. Where did you say Mom was?"

"Out with grandma." says Mia. "Grandma wanted mom to help her pick out a present for you."

"What?"

"I know it's weird but they actually seem to be getting on ok at the moment."

"This would totally ruin that, wouldn't it?"

"Kinda." says Mia.

"I guess I'll have to just deal with it then." says Rory. "I don't wanna talk about this anymore. Let's talk about our party, instead. I've picked a song for you!"

"Urgh really?" says Mia.

"So I know this is really cheesy and predictable, but could you do ' _You've got a friend in me."_

"Oh Rory, really?"

"You said I could pick!"

"Fine. I think I've got the chords for that somewhere." says Mia, walking into her bedroom and searching through music books.

"What are you gonna play it on?" asks Rory.

"Um... ukulele probably." says Mia. "Ah! Here it is!" She flips through the book and finds the right page. "Man, Rory, this is hard."

"Can you do it?"

"Yeah, probably. I'll get my teacher to help me."

"Thanks kid!" says Rory, happily.

"Hey don't get too happy. You still have to go to grandma's party, remember?"

"Yeah. Thanks for reminding me." says Rory, sarcastically.

"Just doing my job."

* * *

"So Mom, why don't you and dad come to Rory's party on Saturday?"

"Really?" says Emily, with a slight smile.

"Yeah!" says Lorelai. "It's a very informal little get together and you've never seen the house before."

"I don't know..." says Emily, uncertainly. "I'd have to ask your father and..."

"Please come, mom. The girls would love it." says Lorelai.

"Ok sure! What shall I wear? What are you wearing?"

"It's just casual, mom."

"So pearls are too formal?" says Emily. Lorelai shakes her head laughing. "You didn't answer me!" Emily calls after her. "Lorelai!"

* * *

"So grandma's coming to your party on Saturday!" says Lorelai.

"Really?" says Rory, shocked.

"How did that happen?" asks Mia.

"I invited her. That's ok, isn't it?"

"Yeah it's fine I was just surprised." says Rory, faking happiness.

"So you and grandma are getting on now?" says Mia, trying to pull Lorelai's attention away from Rory.

"Yeah. You know, it's weird she's actually listening to me now. She seems to value my opinions and try to understand them."

"Are we talking about the same person? _My_ grandma. Emily Gilmore."

"Trust me I'm just as confused as you." says Lorelai. "Anyway, have you decided what you're singing at Rory's party?"

"Well Rory's decided."

"So..."

"It's a secret." says Mia. "You'll have to wait and find out."

"Well I'm intrigued."

* * *

"Hey Mia, it's time." Mia hears someone whisper into her ear. She opens one eye, sleepily.

"Hey kiddo, it's time." she hears the voice again and realises it's her mom. "Come on quick kid or we're gonna miss it." Lorelai urges.

Mia climbs out of bed and snaps out of her sleepy state. It's Rory's birthday. She can't sleep through this. Mia looks at Rory's alarm. 4.02.

"Quickly quickly!" whispers Lorelai, as they climb in either side of Rory.

"Happy birthday, baby girl!" Lorelai says, gently stroking Rory's hair.

"You're sixteen, big sis!" says Mia.

Lorelai begins to tell the long and elaborate story of Rory's birth. Mia listens, intently. She loves this story. It always makes her so proud of her mom because she did it all by herself when she was so young.

"You're growing up so quick." says Lorelai, with a touch of sadness in her voice. "Both of you."

"I don't want to." says Mia. "I wanna stay a kid and live with you forever."

"Well you'll always be my babies but one day you'll want to be on your own."

"Nope!" says Mia, stubbornly. "I don't ever want to leave you two. Besides, what would you do without me?"

"Reclaim the other half of the bedroom." says Rory.

"Oh funny girl." says Mia. "Funny, funny girl."

"Hey Rory you're now officially sixteen!" says Lorelai. "It's 4.04. Do you feel any different?"

"Yeah, a little. I feel more grown up."

"But you're still my baby, of course."

"Of course."

* * *

"Looking forward to your party tonight, Mary." says Tristan, walking past her locker. Rory slams her locker door shut. This whole birthday thing is way more trouble than it's worth. The actual party is going to be so awkward and embarrassing. Rory can feel the anger bubbling inside her and without Lorelai to vent to, it's becoming unbearable.

 _Itll all be over soon_ Rory tells herself, _just one more day._

* * *

 **Hey! Sorry this chapter isn't finished but I didn't have time to write it all. To make up for this I am going to upload chapter 10 part2 as soon as possible(probably Thursday evening UK time) Thanks again for reading part 1😂As always any feedback is much appreciated.**


	11. Chapter 10 part 2

**Welcome to part 2! Thanks for bearing with me, I promise this is not a regular thing I've just been on holiday so my time zones are really messed up😂. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"So! Are we all ready?" Lorelai turns to address her little crowd of two.

Rory smiles and nods. "Yep. I'm ready. More than ready."

"Mia?"

"I'm good to go."

"Great!" Lorelai smiles. "For once I don't feel nauseated about going to my mother's. I don't know if I like it. Is this a good thing?"

Mia goes to speak but Rory cuts her off. "Yes definitely a good thing." Rory says, pushing her mom out the door and pulling Mia behind her.

"Hey, hey! What's going on?" says Lorelai.

"Nothing. I'm just excited for my party." says Rory, forcing a smile.

"Really? Are you ok, Rory? You've been acting weird, kid. If something's up, now is the time to tell me."

Rory hesitates for a split second. "Seriously, mom, I'm fine." she says. "You're just paranoid."

"Yeah mom, all your paranoia has shifted from grandma to Rory." Mia says, trying to lighten the mood.

Lorelai gives Rory one more concerned sideways glance and then moves on. "Well I guess I do have a colossal amount of displaced paranoia..."

* * *

"Rory! The birthday girl! You're here." says Emily, hugging and kissing both girls.

"Great deductions, mom." says Lorelai

"Well maybe you need a little help deducing, Lorelai." says Emily. "Tell me, which part of 'be here at six thirty' did you not understand?"

"The 'six'" says Mia, Lorelai pokes her in the back.

"Sorry, mom. There was traffic." says Lorelai.

"That's quite alright. Come on in." says Emily. "Richard!" she yells. "The girls are here."

Richard walks into the hall to see the girls, straightening his bow tie. "Emily, this bow tie is far too tight." he says. "Ah Rory! Happy birthday." he hands her a white envelope. "For your traveling."

"Thank you, grandpa." says Rory, hugging him. Richard pats her back, awkwardly.

"So Rory," says Emily. "How does it feel to be sixteen?"

"Um... I don't know. Older, I guess." says Rory, coldly. "How long's this thing going to be?"

"Oh! At least over two hours, probably." says Emily, surprised.

This surprises Lorelai as well. "Rory, why don't you go check out the dining room?"

Rory walks into the dining room.

"What was that about?" asks Emily.

"I'm sorry, mom. I don't know what's up with her."

"Maybe she doesn't like the colour scheme." worries Emily. "I'll go ask her."

Throughout all this, Mia stays very, very quiet. _This is the right thing to do. Isn't it?_

* * *

Up until eight thirty, Rory has been hiding in the dining room, talking to her grandma's friends.

"Rory, why don't you go say hi to your friends? They're all in the front room." says Emily. Rory doesn't move. "Come on, Rory, be a good hostess." Emily insists, pushing Rory into the front room.

When Rory walks in, all the Chilton students turn and stare at her. They start to point and laugh.

"Hey Mary!" says Tristan, walking up to her. "Great party. Maybe at the end I could give you a birthday kiss..."

"Go away, Tristan." says Rory, turning sharply and bumping into Paris. The two stare at each other for a while.

"My mom made me come." says Paris.

Mia walks into the front room in time to see the Chilton students laughing at Rory and Rory running away.

Mia looks around and sees jackets and purses belonging to the Chilton students. She grabs a tray of entrees and fills the pockets of the jackets and the purses with them. The entree is an interestingly scented dish, probably made of fish or egg. Either way, it will be unpleasant to find.

* * *

Rory rushes back into the dining room. Emily and Lorelai spot her and walk over to talk to her.

"How are your friends?" asks Emily.

"Friends?" says Lorelai.

"How could you do this to me?" Rory explodes at her grandmother.

"What?"

"Woah."

"How could you embarrass me like this?" Rory continues. "You just assume that you know what's best and that you're always right but you're not! You're not!" Rory cries. She runs out.

"Wow." says Lorelai. "I mean..."

"How can you let your daughter behave like that?" Emily rants at Lorelai. "Have you not taught her manners or the proper way to behave?"

"How is this suddenly my fault?" asks Lorelai.

"She's your daughter, is she not?" says Emily. "I don't think we'll be attending your party tomorrow."

"Mom, please..."

"I'm sorry, we can't make it." says Emily, walking away.

* * *

Lorelai rushes out into the hall and sees Mia.

"Mia have you seen Rory?"

"She's waiting in the car."

"What on earth was going on between her and grandma and..." Lorelai pauses. "Why do you smell like egg? Or is that fish?"

"It's a long story which won't make sense until you talk to Rory."

"Oh god! Rory! What am I going to tell her? I know she was fighting with grandma but I think she still wanted her to come see the house and be at her party."

"Grandma's not coming to Rory's party?" says Mia.

"Nope not anymore."

"Ok. I'll be out at the car in a minute."

"Sure. I better go talk to Rory." says Lorelai.

Mia finds her way into the dining room and walks over to Emily.

"Have they sent you to tell me they're leaving?" asks Emily.

Mia shakes her head. "No but they are leaving. This is coming from me. Please come to Rory's party tomorrow. Being at her sweet sixteen means more than this fight."

"Mia..." says Emily.

"Please! Just don't say no."

"Ok. I won't say no."

"Thank you." says Mia.

* * *

"They were all there, laughing at me. So I left and that's when I yelled at grandma." says Rory as Mia gets in the car.

"Quite well too, you have a decent pair of lungs there."

"Was it that bad?" asks Rory.

"No sweetie, Finland couldn't hear you."

"Great."

"Why didn't you tell me about this? One of you?"

"You seemed to be getting on with grandma." says Rory.

"We didn't want this to screw that up." says Mia.

"Girls. You need to listen to me, now. More than that, you need to hear me. You should never keep important things from me because of grandma or because you're worried about my feelings. To me, you are far more important than that. Do you get it?"

The girls nod.

"Right. Let's go home." says Lorelai. "And hey, I still don't know why you smell of fish or egg, Mia."

"Oh yeah." says Mia. "After Rory ran out I filled their jackets and purses with the gross unidentified entree."

"You did?" says Rory. "Aw thanks kid."

* * *

Saturday evening rolls around pretty quickly and this time Rory is actually excited for her party.

"Mom is everything ready?" she asks, bouncing into the kitchen in her dress.

"Yeah. Sookie's bringing the food over now and the..." she looks up. "Rory you look beautiful."

"Thank you." says Rory, doing a little twirl. "I know it's informal but I kinda wanted to dress up a bit. Carry on with your list."

"Right. I'm taking care of drinks and they are all ready. Everybody RSVPed so I think we're expecting about fifteen minus... you know."

"Yeah I know."

"The last thing I need to do is check that your sister is ready to perform."

"She's in the bedroom." says Rory, going to set up the living room.

Lorelai walks into the girls' room and finds Mia practicing chord changes. Her hand slips and she slaps the bed in frustration. "Damn it!"

"Hey, it's ok, you know. Don't stress. It's just friends and family."

"That makes it worse! They all know me and see me everyday. Plus this is for Rory. I'm really nervous. This is worse than and more terrifying than anything I've ever done. Ever. This is scarier than the time you made me rewatch the Donna Reed show after telling me that it only gets worse the second time. That was cruel. How could you do that to a child?" Mia flops onto the bed.

"Calm down, Mia. Take a deep breath. You're gonna be fine, I know it."

"How? You don't know what's going to happen."

"No but I know you." says Lorelai, kissing Mia's head. "You'll do great."

* * *

"Happy birthday to you!" chorus the little gathering.

"Woo!" yells Lorelai, handing out party poppers. She hands one to Luke.

"This party is not as painful as I thought it would be." says Luke.

"Thanks for coming, Luke." says Lorelai, hugging him. She is interrupted by the doorbell. "It's open get in here!"

Richard and Emily walk in. Mia smiles and rushes over to hug them, joined by Rory.

"Thanks for not saying no." says Mia.

"Right!" says Lorelai, jumping up from onto the table. "Now everybody's here, it's time for me to say my part. Lorelai, Rory, kid, sweetie, by any name you're my little girl. I love you a helluva lot. I'm not one for speeches but I do want to say thank you for teaching me loads of things, thanks for putting up with me but most of all, thanks for being my best friend. Happy birthday, honey."

Everybody claps and cheers and Rory climbs up on the table next to her mom and gives her a hug.

"Thank you, Mommy." she whispers in her ear.

"You're welcome, babe." Lorelai whispers back. "Time for Mia's performance!" she announces.

Mia hops up the stairs and stands on the slightly elevated platform in the middle. The party applaud.

"Thank you." says Mia, blushing. "I'm really not one for speeches so instead I'm going to sing for you, Rory. This is also your birthday present so don't expect anything else."

The party laugh and Mia begins to play. She strums the opening chords, her hands shaking and slipping up, but the minute she starts to sing the nerves go away.

Emily watches her sing this sweet, simple little song for Rory and begins to realise a few things about Lorelai's life, the world she has created for herself, which does not include her parents. It's shocking, and sad.

Lorelai looks over at Rory who's watching, intently. _I am so darn lucky. Things could've turned out so much worse but I got so lucky with my girls._

Mia comes to the end of her song. There is a gap before her little audience erupt into applause and cheers.

"Thank you!" says Mia, just coming out of the trance she goes into when she sings.

Emily nudges Morey, who's standing next to her. "That's my granddaughter." she says, smiling proudly.

"Mine too." adds Richard.

"Happy birthday, Rory." says Mia.

Lorelai hops up on stage and hugs Mia. "Well done kid. You smashed it." she whispers in Mia's ear.

* * *

The evening is coming to a close and Lorelai and Mia are watching Rory say her goodbyes. She chats with her friends and gives out gift bags while holding an interesting conversation. Then she heads outside to say goodbye to Dean.

"She's got her own life." says Lorelai. "She's sixteen now, that's terrifying."

"Just two years until she goes to Harvard." says Mia.

"Wow. Yeah just two years. My little girl's all grown up."

* * *

Mia wakes with a start, her heart racing and she's sweating like crazy. The alarm clock says 3.57 am. Shaking, Mia gets out of bed and runs straight to her mom's room.

"Mom! Please wake up! Please!" she says, tears streaming down her face.

Lorelai's maternal instinct overpowers her need to sleep. "Sweetie? What's wrong? Oh honey come here. Shh it's ok." she says pulling Mia into a hug. "Another nightmare?"

Mia nods, still crying.

"This one seems worse than the other one. You wanna tell me about it?" asks Lorelai, softly.

Mia shakes her head.

"Can you try? It'll help, I promise."

Mia sits up. "They were breaking the walls of our house down. It was super loud and scary but no one could hear except us. We kept trying to fix the walls but they were too strong. They pulled Rory away and you grabbed her so they pulled you away too and..."

"Oh Mia, honey, shh it's ok. I'm here. I'm always here. Don't cry, baby."

Mia sniffs and wipes her eyes. "I'm sorry I woke you up." she says.

"That's ok, Hun."

"Are we gonna be ok, mom. Just you and me?"

"What do you mean?"

"When Rory leaves for college. We're gonna mange ok without her, right?"

"When Rory leaves... I haven't thought about it that much." Lorelai admits. "But sure, we'll be fine. We always are."

Mia nods. "Good." she says.

"What brought this on?" asks Lorelai.

"Oh just Rory's birthday and seeing her in her own world."

"Right." says Lorelai. They fall into comfortable silence. "Hey Mia who was breaking down the walls?"

"Gargoyles." says Mia, sitting up, scared by the memory. She pulls her knees up to her chest. "And evil dragons. They're not real are they, Mom?" she looks at Lorelai, her blue eyes wide.

Lorelai smiles at her. "No sweetheart, they're not." She looks at Mia, who's beginning to fall asleep. _She acts so grown up and she lives in a grown up world but I forget that she's only nine. My little Mia._

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please leave feedback in the reviews or PM me if you prefer. I love reading your feedback! Let me know anything you'd like to see in the next few chapters and I'll definitely try to work it in. Next chapter goes up on Sunday at 2.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Here's chapter 11! This story now has over 3,000 views which is so cool. Thank you so much! When we hit over 5,000 I'll do something special and maybe a little different so let me know what you'd like in the reviews. Happy reading.**

* * *

"Mom, I swear to god if you have lost my only nice bracelet then I'm gonna cry!" Mia yells.

"Hey, don't swear,"

"Mom! Please." pleads Mia. "Where did you last have it?"

"I don't know. The inn, I think. Or maybe the bedroom."

The two walk upstairs to check the bedroom.

"I can't believe you're stealing my jewellery now." Mia grumbles. "It used to just be Rory's. Why the hell did you want my jewellery anyway?"

"Mia, the swearing, please! You're out of control, girl." Lorelai says as they begin to search the bedroom. "You should take it as a compliment. It means you now actually have something worth stealing."

"I'm thrilled." says Mia, sarcastically,

"I'm sorry." says Lorelai, with a cheeky smile. "Will you forgive me? You do owe me."

"For what?"

"Well one time we were in Walmart and you managed to lose your shoe and we looked for hours, all over Walmart, because you only had one decent pair of shoes. We never did find them but we wasted a whole day looking and recently, I've forgiven you for that."

"Recently?" says Mia. "I swear that happened like five years ago."

"It was a very long, hot day." says Lorelai, defensively. She checks one nightstand.

"Yeah, a long hot day. Five years ago!" says Mia, checking the other nightstand.

"I don't think it's here." says Lorelai. "I'll check for you at the inn ok, babe? And I wouldn't take the moral high ground here because I'm still a little pissed off about that shoe."

"Fine. We'll search the house this evening."

"Aw, that's cute. You think I'm still gonna care this evening."

"Well you still care about the shoe so I don't know what your timeframes are."

* * *

Lorelai runs into Luke's in a hurry.

"Luke! Can I get a coffee to go? Quick. Time is of the essence here."

"Yeah sure." says Luke, beginning to pour the coffee. He's pouring it slowly and Lorelai gets impatient.

"Come on, Luke! I'm late today because I had to look for Mia's bracelet which I may or may not have borrowed then lost. So chop chop."

Luke puts down the coffee. "Chop chop?" he repeats.

"No coffee yet, Luke, no coffee." says Lorelai.

Dean walks into the diner and sees Lorelai at the counter. She sees him and they both smile awkwardly. Dean politely walks over and sits at the counter with Lorelai.

"Hey!" says Lorelai, smiling. "How are you?"

"Uh.. good. Good, thanks. And you?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Luke has stopped pouring again to watch this exchange.

"Luke, you gotta be kidding me, now." says Lorelai.

"Oh right, sorry." says Luke, pouring the rest of the coffee and scrambling for a lid.

There is an uncomfortable silence.

"So Dean, how would you like to come to movie night at our house tonight?" says Lorelai.

"Uh sure that would be great." says Dean. "If it's ok with Rory."

"Oh it's fine, don't worry. Come by our house at 8, if that's ok with you?"

"Sure, that's fine."

Luke puts the coffee on the table. "One coffee to go,"

"Urgh finally! I gotta run. Bye Luke, bye Dean, see you tonight."

Luke glares at Dean and slams a menu down in front of him.

"Punk." he whispers under his breath as he walks into the kitchen.

* * *

"I'm home!" Lorelai declares as she walks in the door.

"Bracelet." says Mia, appearing in the doorway and holding out her hand.

"Oh god! You made me jump. We need to buy you a bell or something."

"Maybe you could put it on my bracelet."

"Ok, I'm sorry I couldn't find it at work. I looked though, I swear."

"Well then I guess we should both get ready for a fun evening of playing scavenger hunt." Mia sighs.

"We can't." says Lorelai. "It's movie night and I invited Dean this time."

"You invited Dean? Why?"

"I ran into him at Luke's and it was so awkward. I didn't what to say so I invited him to movie night. It might help us to get to know him better."

"How do we know we want to get to know him better?"

"Well Rory likes him and I trust her judgment."

"I guess. Have you told her?"

"No. I'll let her know when she comes home from Lane's."

"Hey you know what would be great to wear tonight?" says Mia.

"What?"

"My bracelet."

* * *

"So Lane now needs to take refuge at our house because her mom found a recipe book called '101 ways to cook tofu'" says Rory putting down her jacket and walking into the living room.

"Well she's always welcome here, in the tofu-free house." says Lorelai, following Rory in. Rory sees the array of junk food on the table.

"Oh movie night! What are we watching?"

"Whatever you want. But about movie night, there's going to be four of us tonight."

"Oh. Is Sookie coming?"

"No, Dean is. That's great, huh? It's gonna be so much fun with all of us. Like a little party! And I can get to know Dean better and..."

"You invited Dean?" says Rory.

"Well yeah. I thought you'd be pleased." says Lorelai, smiling until she sees Rory's face. "What?"

"You invited Dean! You, my mother, set up a date for me. My mother set up a date for me. I can't believe this! Dean will think I'm so pathetic that I need my mother to chaperone our date."

"We can uninvite him." suggests Lorelai.

"No, that's just rude." says Rory, looking depressed.

"Well then me and Mia can clear off and go to the movies and we'll leave you two alone."

"No that will look worse. You'll have to stay. I am mad at you right now but I need your help. What do you do on a date?" asks Rory. Mia walks around the corner and leans against the wall, eavesdropping.

"What do you mean? You've been going out with Dean for a while." says Lorelai.

"Yeah but we've never been on a proper date, we just hung out the day, informally." says Rory.

"Well a date isn't much different." says Lorelai. "It's just like hanging out. It's not something to stress about."

"That's easy for you to say." Rory mumbles. Mia doesn't quite hear so she shuffles closer.

"What do you mean?"

"You talk to guys so easily. It's incredible. You never get nervous or stressed or forget what to say. Not just with Max, with any guy. If you want, at the end of the conversation he'll be eating out the palm of your hand. How do you do it?" asks Rory.

"Rory, it's kind of something you learn on the job. I can already tell your going to be a natural." says Lorelai, gently. "What do you think, Mia?"

"Mia?" says Rory. Mia walks out from behind the wall.

"I'm sorry. It was interesting!" says Mia.

"What? You wanna know what to do on dates?" says Lorelai.

"Urgh, no! Boys are gross! Except Harrison."

"That's my girl!" says Lorelai, giving her a hug. "But it won't stay that way."

"Oh, I think it will." says Mia, smiling.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter. Please leave reviews! Thanks.**


	13. Chapter 12

**Here's chapter 12 which is actually finished and uploaded on time! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"Hey Rory." says Mia, walking into her bedroom and seeing most of Rory's clothes laid out on her bed. In fact, not most, but everything. Literally everything Rory owns, dresses, skirts, jeans, swimming costumes, they're all laid out all over the room.

"Woah, what's going on here? Did you have a fight with your wardrobe?" asks Mia

"What do I wear on a date? I've never done this before! This is way to stressful for a Saturday evening and Dean will be here in 10 minutes. Or sooner if he's early! God, are guys supposed to arrive early on a date? Is there 'date etiquette'? I have to pick something to wear! This is stupid, all these clothes. I don't want to be a stereotypical teenager who spends ages picking what to wear and..."

"Take a breath, Rory." says Mia, interrupting her.

"What do I wear?" says Rory, looking defeated.

"You're asking me? I have no idea!" Mia says. She looks at Rory, who looks very upset. "I can tell you this, though. Wear what makes you happy. If you're happy in it, everyone else should like it."

"Even Dean?"

"Especially Dean."

The doorbell rings.

"Oh my god, he's early!" says Rory.

"Ok, forget everything I just said and just put on clothes, any clothes!" says Mia. She runs out into the hall and bumps into Lorelai, who's also answering the door.

"Woah, slow down babe, where's the fire?" Lorelai says, smiling. She opens the door to Dean, who sees the two smiling Gilmore girls standing inside.

"Uh... hi." says Dean, confused by this slightly creepy image.

"Come in, Dean." says Lorelai, leading him into the living room. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Oh, just water would be great, thanks." says Dean. He's left alone with Mia. There's a short silence.

"So, how's Clara?" asks Mia.

"She's good." says Dean, clearly pleased to have something to talk about. "She's going ice skating tomorrow."

"Wow, cool! I've always wanted to go ice skating." says Mia.

"Really? Well she's got an extra ticket if you want to go with her?"

"Seriously? I'd love to!" says Mia, smiling.

"Ok. My parents will pick you up around 11."

"Great, thanks." says Mia as Rory walks back in. Mia looks at Rory and spots something.

"My bracelet!" says Mia, pointing at Rory's wrist. "Rory that's mine!"

"Shut up, Mia." says Rory, quietly, trying to pretend to Dean that nothing is going on.

"I can't believe it! I've been nagging at mom for ages to find that bracelet when you were the one who stole it all along!"

"Yay, I'm innocent!" says Lorelai, back from the kitchen with drinks. "I didn't lose it I just borrowed it."

"So both of you stole my bracelet?" says Mia, taking the bracelet off Rory.

"'Borrowed' is a better word." says Lorelai.

"A better word is quit stealing my stuff!"

"That's more than one word." says Rory. "Anyway, in case you forgot, Dean is here and we are supposed to be having a movie night."

Dean is watching baffled but amused. "You are hard to keep up with."

"Right. Sorry. Dean, pick one of these movies. Hint: there is a right answer." says Lorelai.

* * *

Halfway through the movie, at a bit the girls have seen many times, Lorelai says "So Dean, tell us a bit about yourself."

"Yeah, tell us about your family." says Mia.

"Uh, ok." says Dean. "I live with my mom, my dad and my nine year old sister. We moved here from Chicago because my dad got a job in Hartford but we couldn't afford houses there."

"What does your dad do?" asks Lorelai, politely.

"Oh, he fixes cars." says Dean.

"Interesting," says Rory. "Mom, you wanna help me with the drinks?"

"Now? Sure." says Lorelai. Rory leads her into the kitchen.

"Why did you shaghai Dean like that?" Rory says.

"What? I didn't shanghai him! I was just being polite, Rory. Why are you so stressed about this?"

"I don't know, I don't know! This shouldn't be stressful, right?"

"Oh well it always is."

"What do you mean?"

"Most first dates are kinda stressful. It's a law of nature, you're not unusual."

"Really? Great. Um.. can you let me go back in first?" asks Rory.

"Yeah. Can you send Mia out here to me?"

"Sure, why?"

"I need her help with something."

"Ok." says Rory, walking back into the living room where Dean and Mia are still watching the movie.

"Mia, mom wants you in the kitchen."

"Ok." says Mia, she walks into the kitchen. "Hey mom,"

"Stay in here with me for a bit. Let them enjoy their date." says Lorelai, watching Dean and Rory shift closer together on the couch.

"They're a cute couple, aren't they? And Dean seems nice."

"It's always gonna be hard for me to like my daughter's boyfriend but he's probably the best I could've hoped for."

"So you're not going to like my first boyfriend?"

"What boyfriend? I'll kill him."

"I'll take that as a no, then."

* * *

"Mia, your rides here!" yells Lorelai, on Sunday morning.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Five minutes!" Mia yells back.

Lorelai smiles at Clara and her mom. "Would you like to come in? She'll be a while."

"She said five minutes." says Clara.

"Yes, but that does not mean she will actually be five minutes." says Lorelai, leading them into the living room. "Thank you for taking Mia ice skating. She's been nagging me to take her for years!"

"Oh it's my pleasure. Thank you for having Dean last night. He said it was lovely to meet you all. He and Rory seem to be getting pretty close!" says Clara's mom, Alison.

"I know..." says Lorelai.

"You know what's going on, don't you?" asks Alison.

"Yes..." says Lorelai, uncomfortably.

"Don't worry about it." she says. "Dean is a good guy. He won't hurt her. I know I'm biased because he's my son but still, I think he'll be a good first boyfriend. I can imagine how you feel though. I know I'll completely flip out when Clara starts to date."

"Yeah, you're way cooler than my mom would be." says Clara.

"Thank you. You haven't seen me in the mornings, yet! And I'm sure Rory and Mia think your mom's way cooler than me."

"Ok, I'm here, I'm here! How fast was that? Who timed me?" says Mia, running in wearing one shoe.

"Fifteen minutes." says Lorelai, handing her the second shoe. "Off you go you're late already."

* * *

Mia walks into class and sits next to Harrison in a huff.

"What?" he asks.

"It's not fair! Rory's got a day off today. Teacher training day or something."

"Not fair!" says Harrison.

"I know, it sucks. I hate Mondays! But still, at least I can come to school and see you and Clara. Where is she?"

"She's not in yet. Tell me about your weekend. I was grounded by my mom for not handing in that homework so I need to live through you."

"Ok well we had a movie night with Dean on Saturday night." says Mia.

"All of you?"

"Yeah."

"Poor guy."

"Well mom and I left halfway through. On Sunday I went ice skating with..." Mia trails off, thinking about how Harrison will take this. He's been great about the three of them hanging out together, but it might be different if he finds out they hung out together without him.

"Yeah, with who?" says Harrison.

"Oh! With.. uh...Rory! Yeah, Rory." says Mia. Harrison is about to question her when Lorelai bursts into Mia's classroom with Rory.

"I'm so sorry to burst into your class like this, Miss Payes." says Lorelai.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" asks Mia.

Rory comes over to desk. "It's here! It's finally here! Put your coat on."

"As I said I'm really sorry!" says Lorelai to Miss Payes. "But can I just borrow Mia for like, five minutes." She is smiling.

"Of course..." says Miss Payes, confused. Rory runs outside followed by Lorelai but Miss Payes calls them back. "Can I ask why?"

"It's the first snow!" says Lorelai. The kids all look out the window.

"No it's not!" shouts one boy.

"But it will be!" says Lorelai, running out.

"How do you know?" the boy yells again but Lorelai is gone.

"She can smell it." Mia says, with a smile before following her out.

The girls stand outside and small, white flakes begin to fall.

"It's snowing." Lorelai whispers. "It's magical when it snows. The whole world goes quiet. We have a history, me and snow, a good, long history. Breathe in and smell the snow. Can you smell it?"

"Not really mom." says Mia.

"That's just you." says Rory.

"But it is magical." Mia whispers.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter which is only one hour late! Next chapter will be up on Sunday but in the evening this time, probably at about 6(UK time). As always, please leave reviews because I love to know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! This is chapter 13 (I think) which I know is unlucky for some people but I hope it's not unlucky for this chapter. Sorry about the weird opening to this chapter, by the way, but I was super tired when I wrote it and I kinda like it. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"Mom!" yells Mia, after school on Monday. "My entire class, including me, thinks you're insane! Not clinically insane, but insane."

"Well, I try." says Lorelai, coming out of the kitchen.

"It doesn't matter to me, though, because I think it's fine to have a mother who's insane as long as she loves me."

"And I do, most of the time." says Lorelai, sitting on the couch.

"When don't you?" says Mia, giggling.

"Well when you ask me food, that's kind of annoying. In labour you weren't particularly charming and you use a lot of water."

"Why do you talk like a bad mom when you're the best." says Mia, laughing and poking Lorelai.

"Oh, I know I'm the best!" says Lorelai, hugging her. "But our water bill was kinda high this month so..." she stops speaking and collapses into laughter because Mia's throwing pillows at her.

"Seriously, mom? Are you five years old?" says Rory, walking in after school.

"No but I wish I was!" says Lorelai. "Come on! Join in, it's fun!" she throws a pillow at Rory. Rory gasps.

"Well now I have to get revenge." says Rory, joining the fight.

* * *

The phone rings at the independence inn.

"Michel!" says Lorelai, running behind the desk. "I don't employ you to stand there and look pretty, you know."

"You should've made that clearer." says Michel.

"Michel, it's Friday, I'm too tired to argue with you." she says, picking up the phone. "Hello, Independence inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Lorelai, it's your mother."

"This is your fault!" Lorelai whispers to Michel. "Hello mother."

"Lorelai, it's snowing terribly."

"Oh... oh my god! It is! You're right! I shall immediately alert all news outlets. Michel, get the emergency supplies. It's snowing."

"Are you being serious? I can never tell." says Michel, Lorelai glares at him.

"I don't have time for your comments today, Lorelai. I've sent someone to pick up Rory from school. I gather you won't be coming tonight?"

"No, mom, I can't get there in the snow."

"Ok well Rory should probably spend the night here." says Emily.

"Well ok mom. Oh and you'll have Mia too. She's at Chilton today." says Lorelai.

"Really? Why?"

"I don't know, some music course they were running."

"Ok great!" Lorelai can hear Emily smiling. "I have both of them tonight. Oh! They've just arrived."

"Great, mom. Can I talk to them?" asks Lorelai.

"So we're staying at grandma's?" asks Rory, once she's got the phone.

"Yeah, too much snow to drive."

"Ok. So tomorrow night we do our snow walk?" says Rory.

"Yeah tomorrow night. Can I talk to Mia?" asks Lorelai. Rory hands the phone to Mia.

"Mom?" says Mia.

"Hey kid."

"I don't want to spend the night away from you. I've never done that before."

"I know kid, but I'll see you tomorrow. I'm only a phone call away."

"What if I have a nightmare?"

"You won't, sweetie, you'll be fine. Besides, Rory's there." says Lorelai, reassuringly.

"Yeah I guess. Oh wait! The reenactors!"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"I'll miss them. Can you take photos for me?" asks Mia.

"Of course! We don't want a gap in the yearly album. I'm getting the camera ready as we speak."

"Thanks Mom."

"Bye kid." says Lorelai, hanging up the phone.

* * *

Lorelai walks through town, enjoying the snow and watching the reenactment. She spots Max Medina and smiles.

"Max Medina." she says, making him jump. "Look what the cat dragged in."

"Lorelai, hi." says Max

"What brings you to this neck of the woods on a Friday night?"

"My car broke down." says Max. "And I'm so pleased it did."

"Me too." says Lorelai.

"Where are your kids tonight?"

"Stranded at the grandparent's." says Lorelai.

"I see."

"Let me take you out." says Lorelai.

Lorelai and Max get food and see a movie. The evening flies by and they both forget about everything else. For the first time in a long time, Lorelai feels a bit of something that could be love for someone other than her daughters. She's having so much fun that she forgets about her rules on dating until they are both standing outside Lorelai's house.

"So this is my house." says Lorelai.

"I see." says Max. "It's a nice house."

"Thank you." says Lorelai. There's a pause. "I'm sorry Max."

"Sorry about what?"

"Sorry that I can't invite you in."

"Why not?"

"It's not just my decision and this is not just my house. I can't bring guys in without talking to the girls. It's their house too."

"What about just for coffee?" says Max.

Lorelai smiles and walks in. Then she turns around. "Fine just coffee."

Max follows Lorelai in and trips over Mia's guitar case. Lorelai smiles. "Told you it's their house."

* * *

Lorelai and Max are kissing on the stairs when the phone rings. Max pulls away. "Is that very important?" he asks.

"No." says Lorelai, she carries on kissing him, then pulls away. "Mmm, wait. Yes." Max looks disappointed. "It could be the girls."

She picks up the phone and sure enough, it's Rory.

"Hey kid, is everything ok?" she says when she hears Rory's voice. She smiles apologetically at Max.

"Yeah mom, everything's fine. We just wanted to say goodnight. Are you ok? You sound out of breath." Rory says.

"Oh it's nothing. I'm fine."

"Ok. Goodnight!" Lorelai hears both girls say down the phone.

"Goodnight kiddos." says Lorelai, hanging up.

She and Max look at each other. Lorelai sighs.

"I'm sorry, Max. I don't think we can do this right now."

"Ok, that's fine. I'll just go get my car and head home." he starts walking towards the door. Lorelai grabs him.

"No, Max! Don't leave and definitely don't drive. It's a snowstorm out there. Stay here, please, you can sleep on the couch."

Max looks uncertain.

"Please, Max. I want to wake you up tomorrow with coffee."

"Ok, I'll stay but just for coffee." he says, smiling. "And the goodnight kiss."

* * *

When Lorelai wakes up she hears Mia giggling. She turns over to go back to sleep before she remembers where the girls were last night. She jumps out of bed and races downstairs, past Max who is still asleep on the couch. She runs to the front door before Mia opens it.

"Oh hey!" says Mia.

"Hey, listen I have some explaining to do before you come in and I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about this and I didn't plan it this way but it just kinda happened. Blame the snow." says Lorelai.

"Mom, what's going on?" says Rory. They all walk inside and stare at the guy on the couch.

"Hey, it's the art guy from Rory's school!" Mia whispers. "The one who liked the same painting I did."

"It's my teacher." says Rory. "On my couch."

"Rory, nothing happened. It was a terrible night out there so I asked him if he would like to stay on the couch." says Lorelai. Rory says nothing. "Rory, come on, talk to me."

"I don't know what to say," says Rory.

"I told you both that Max and I were dating. This wasn't a complete shock."

"I know." says Rory. "You shouldn't have to explain yourself to me. I need to process this."

"No I do need to explain it to you, both of you. You have that right. Mia what about you?"

"I just can't believe he's in our house." says Mia. She looks up at Lorelai. "I don't know what's going on with me. This is really difficult to figure out." she says. "I can't figure it out."

"Mia, you don't have to." says Lorelai, kneeling down and hugging her. "I'm sorry for messing with you like this, sweetie, you're far too young."

"I don't wanna be."

"I know." says Lorelai. "Now listen. Rory you too. This is a one time thing. Guys are not just gonna show up in our house. I will let you know before I bring home another guy, or the same guy. Will you do the same? When you're older, obviously."

The girls nod.

"Good. So we have a deal?"

They nod again.

"Good," says Lorelai, but she still doesn't feel like they're completely ok with it.

* * *

"Happy Monday!" says Harrison, when Mia walks into class.

"I'm not even joking, I'm so tired I could cry."

"Aw, come sit next to me. How's it going?"

"When I came home on Saturday morning there was a man on my couch."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Mom's boyfriend."

"Oh that guy from the wake." says Harrison.

"Yeah." says Mia, nodding.

"So listen, now I'm ungrounded I thought I'd make the most of my freedom so I bought three ice skating tickets. It sounded fun and I figured we could go together with Clara. I thought your mom could take us cus she's the coolest." says Harrison with a smile.

Mia pauses.

"What? Would your mom not want to take us? Because my mom can do it..."

"Its not that, it's just... I went skating with Clara and her mom. Just the three of us."

Harrison doesn't react. "And?"

"Well I didn't tell you about it. I went the weekend before last and I told you I went with Rory." says Mia.

"Well, I'm not happy about the lying bit but why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think you'd take it well because of all the stuff with Clara before."

Harrison smiles. "You're smart, Mia, but sometimes you can be very, very stupid."

"What do you mean?"

"Of course I wouldn't flip out about something like that. Clara is our friend and you can hangout with whoever you want." Harrison says. He smiles. "It was sweet of you to think of me, Mia, but I'd prefer if you just told me the truth. Deal?"

"Deal." says Mia, relieved. "Thanks for being mad."

"I was stupid, before." says Harrison. "And I don't wanna lose you again cus that sucked."

"I know!" says Mia, laughing.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Please leave a review because those fanfic emails make me so happy!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey welcome back to this story! Sorry I didn't upload on Wednesday but I've been away performing for a week. Just to let you know, I'm now going to upload a chapter once a week instead of twice. This will give me more time to write longer chapters. I prefer to read and write longer chapters so this might make more sense. If you have another idea for an upload 'schedule' please let me know. Happy reading!**

* * *

Mia walks home from school on Thursday, deep in thought and staring at the ground. She is not looking where she's going and bumps into Clara.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Clara!" says Mia, apologetically. Clara giggles.

"It's fine. I'm alright." Clara tips her head sideways. "What are you thinking about, Mia? You look very thoughtful."

"I'm not thinking about anything really just... Clara? Do you like being nine?"

"Being nine?" Clara looks confused. "I think it's better than being eight."

"But would you prefer to be older?" asks Mia.

"I'm not sure." says Clara. "Grown ups never seem to be happy. I don't know why. I don't want to be like that, though. What about you?"

"I wish I was older. Not a lot older just a bit more grown up. Mom, Rory and I always talked about everything together but now that Rory's older they talk about a lot of stuff I don't understand. I try to figure out what they're talking about but it doesn't make sense."

"What kind of things do they talk about?" asks Clara, kicking a stone along the street in front of her.

"Boyfriends. I don't know how to talk about that. I've never had a boyfriend because I'm still a kid." says Mia.

"Boys are gross." says Clara. "Except Harrison. And Dean."

"Yeah I don't want a boyfriend." says Mia. "I just wanna join in."

* * *

The Gilmore girls pull up to Emily and Richard's house on Friday.

"I've never hated a fountain more than I hate this one." says Lorelai, referring to the large fountain in the drive of the Gilmore mansion. "It taunts me. Always has. When I was five years old I used to wake up every night screaming because I thought the guy from the fountain was evil. My parents never believed me but I always told them that fountain was haunted. I wouldn't be surprised if it was built on top of a burial ground or something."

"Mom, depressing and slightly creepy stories from your childhood are not going to make this dinner any easier." says Mia.

"It always takes you such a long time to get to the doorstep." says Rory. "I actually don't think you've ever rung the bell. It's always been me or Mia."

"That's because Mom's allergic to the type of metal that doorbell is made of." says Mia. Lorelai and Rory both stare at her. "What?"

"Aw sweetie!" says Lorelai. "I can't believe you still think that's true!"

"Wait, that's not true." says Mia, indignantly.

"No kid. I lied because I hate ringing that doorbell. It's a request to go into a house I don't want to go into." Lorelai says, laughing.

"Mom, you know you're evil, don't you?" says Rory. "There's a special place in hell for you."

"You really need to tell me these things." says Mia, rolling her eyes playfully. "Or I won't figure it out. Right now you need to ring the bell to make up for years of lies."

"Ok ok, I'm sorry. I'll do it." says Lorelai, ringing the bell.

* * *

Three generations of Gilmore girls are sitting round the table, beginning to eat their starters.

"Your father's away on business this week so it's just us girls." says Emily, with a smile.

Lorelai looks up and notices Emily looking at her and it startles her. She smiles quickly then returns to her food. Emily turns her attention to Rory.

Rory is not in the best of moods. Her school is holding a formal dance and she hasn't told her mom yet. Rory doesn't really want to go to this dance so it doesn't seem important enough to tell Lorelai. At least, she doesn't think she wants to go. Dances have never really appealed to Rory. She'd much rather stay home and read and yet, something about the idea of getting dressed up all fancy and walking in with Dean, who'd of course look gorgeous, interested her.

"Rory?" says Emily, breaking her chain of thought.

"Yes?" says Rory, her head snapping up.

"You've been staring at the piece of lettuce for 10 minutes." says Emily.

"Would you like us to leave you two alone?" adds Lorelai, cheekily.

"I'm sorry, grandma." says Rory, eating the lettuce. Both Lorelai and Rory return to silence.

"Ok, what is going on?" says Emily, putting down her knife and fork. "You both seem so distracted tonight."

"Both?" says Mia. "I'm here too, you know."

Emily ignores her and moves on. "What's bothering you? Lorelai, you first."

"Nothing's bothering me, mom. I'm just thinking, that's all. Am I not allowed to think now?"

"Of course you're allowed to think, Lorelai, as long as you tell me what you're thinking about." says Emily. Lorelai sits up, sighing.

"Fine. I'm in a relationship, mom. There's a guy, ok? That's what I'm thinking about." says Lorelai. Emily smiles.

"A relationship? Are you going to get married?"

"Geez, mom, I don't know! It's new." says Lorelai.

"Ok." says Emily, happily. "It's new." she looks touched. Lorelai has no idea why. "What about you, Rory?"

Rory hasn't been paying attention so Mia nudges her.

"What?" says Rory. Mia gestures to her grandmother.

"Why are you distracted, Rory? Is there a special man in your life as well?" Emily raises her eyebrows suggestively. Rory catches Lorelai's eye and Lorelai slowly shakes her head and mouthes 'No'. Emily turns to look at Lorelai who smiles quickly and eats a carrot.

"Actually, grandma, yes. There is a guy." says Rory, giving Lorelai a hard stare.

"There is?" Emily's smile widens. "Oh, lovely! What's his name? What's he like? Oh I must meet him. Can I meet him? Have you met him, Lorelai?"

"Woah, mom. Calm down with the questions. This isn't Ellen. She's not here for an interview." says Lorelai.

"Right. I'm sorry." says Emily, almost scolding herself. "But can we meet him?"

Rory stops mid-chew and looks at Lorelai. Lorelai turns to Emily and says "Uh I don't think that's a good idea, mom."

"Why not? The agreement was that you let me get involved in your lives and if I'm not very much mistaken, this is your life."

"That's was not the agreement!" says Lorelai.

"I'll talk to him, grandma." says Rory, diffusing the potential argument.

"Thank you, Rory." says Emily. The girls return to silence and focus on their food, except Mia.

"Hey!" says Mia, suddenly, making them all jump. "I hate to be self-centred and everything but don't you want to know about my life? How I'm doing? Not even a little bit?"

"Mia, sweetie..." Lorelai reaches over to pay Mia on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry." says Mia, softly. "That was inappropriate."

"That's quite alright, dear." says Emily. The rest of dinner passes in relative silence.

* * *

As soon as the girls get into the car to hed home, Lorelai turns to Mia.

"What was that, kid?" asks Lorelai.

"I'm sorry, mom, I just feel like I can't join in with your conversations anymore. For the first time, I really feel a lot younger than you." says Mia.

"Well you are, sweetie." says Lorelai, starting the engine. "You live in a very grown up world but you're only nine." she looks at Mia and sighs. "You're very mature, Mia, but that doesn't mean you should have to be like an adult all the time."

"I don't mind!" says Mia. "I just wanna join in."

"I know you don't mind, baby, but it's not fair to you. You deserve to have a childhood."

"It's not fair." Mia grumbles.

"I'm sorry, kid." says Lorelai, softly. She feels terrible but there is no easy way out of this. There's silence for a bit. "Hey, why did my mother look so pleased with herself when I told her about Max. It's not like he's her boyfriend."

"Yeah why was that?" asks Rory.

"Seriously?" says Mia. "You didn't realise? She was so happy you were sharing something with her. It sounds like you've never really done that in the past."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Lorelai smiles at Mia. "When did you get smarter than me?"

"About 20 minutes after I was born." says Mia, cheekily.

"Funny, funny girl." says Lorelai, sarcastically. However, Mia sees her smiling.

* * *

On Friday evening, after Rory has finished her homework, she decides to talk to Lorelai about the dance.

"Mom, can I talk to you?" Rory asks Lorelai.

"Yeah sure." she looks at Rory. "Is this is a 'sit down' kind of talk?"

"What?" says Rory.

"Like do I need to be sitting down for this. Are you gonna tell me you're pregnant or something?"

"No! God no! It's just...well at school there's this thing and it's...well it's...kinda sorta a dance."

"Kinda sorta a dance?"

"Well it is a dance."

"Ok, great. What do you wanna wear?" says Lorelai.

"See that's the thing. I don't know if I should go."

"Why wouldn't you go?"

"I don't think I like dances. I don't know if I'll enjoy it. I might really hate it but I might really love it."

"Do you want to go?" Lorelai says, calmly. Rory nods.

"Then go." says Mia, handing her a pop tart.

"Where did you come from?" asks Rory surprised.

"Her." says Mia, pointing at Lorelai. "But just now from the kitchen."

"And you think..." prompts Rory.

"I think you should go." Mia says. "I can't see why you wouldn't."

"Well because it might be stuffy and boring and I don't have a date or a dress."

"Ok you don't know if it will be stuffy and boring because you've never been to a dance." says Lorelai. "You do have a date, you just need to ask Dean and I'll make you a dress."

"Ok..." says Rory. "I guess I'm going to a dance then." She smiles. "Can my dress be blue?"

"Of course it can." says Lorelai.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter. The next chapter should hopefully be longer and I think it will be a very interesting chapter so make sure you read it! It goes up next Sunday at two. Please leave reviews! I love reading your feedback! It makes me so happy😊**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15. Hope you enjoy it. It's a bit longer than most of them!**

* * *

"He said yes! He said yes!" Rory squeals as she rushes into Luke's.

"Who did?" asks Lorelai, who's about to start eating her hamburger.

"Dean!" says Rory, as though it's obvious.

"Oh great!" says Lorelai, then she pauses and looks at Mia, who's next to her. "Dean said yes to what?"

"To the dance." says Rory, sitting across from Lorelai and Mia and stealing a fry from Mia's plate. Mia looks at her indignantly but is ignored. Rory is way too happy to notice the effect of one stolen fry. "Keep up, Mom!" she jokes.

"Well, sorry. But I'm in my old age now, I forget things." Lorelai looks up at Rory. "Do I know you, the fair child?"

"Mom, stop! You're never gonna get old." says Mia.

"Can we focus, please?" says Rory. "Dean said yes to the dance so now I'm definitely going to this dance. With my boyfriend. Tristan can put that in his pipe and smoke it."

"He can do what now?" asks Mia, bewildered.

"It's an expression." says Lorelai. "Who's Tristan?"

"Just some guy at school who I hate. I've mentioned him before, remember?"

"No. Oh God, maybe I am losing my memory!" she exclaims as Luke walks over with more coffee.

"Luke, I'm losing my memory." she says. Luke rolls his eyes and takes her menu away from her, his expression deadpan, yet kind, as always.

"Fifth item on the menu." he says.

"What?" asks Lorelai.

"Let's see if you're losing your memory or not. Fifth item on the menu. Tell me."

"Ham and cheese on rye." says Lorelai, with a smile.

"You're fine." says Luke, walking back to the counter.

* * *

"Mia! Quick! Or we're gonna be late for Friday night dinner." Lorelai yells upstairs. "Later than usual, anyway." she adds.

"Which one?" asks Mia, leaning over the stairs and holding out two necklaces for inspection.

"Both are mine and both are expensive." says Lorelai. She looks at Mia and sighs. "Go with the blue, it brings out your eyes."

Mia smiles and runs back to Lorelai's room to put away the other necklace. On her way back down she trips on a shoe and goes flying down the stairs. For Lorelai, this all happens in slow-motion. She runs over to the bottom of the stairs where Mia is.

"Mia! Mia, are you ok?" she asks desperately.

"I think so." says Mia, still lying on her back on the floor. As she sits up, she winces with pain.

"Can you walk?" Lorelai asks, softly, gently supporting her. Mia gets up slowly and gingerly makes her way towards the coach.

"Hey, why aren't we leaving for Hartford?" asks Rory, walking in from the bedroom. Then she sees Mia. "Woah, what happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." says Mia.

"No, you're not." says Lorelai. "Rory, call your grandmother and tell her we're not coming to dinner tonight because we have an emergency. Be as vague and as brief as possible. If she asks for more information tell her we are all fine but you have to go quickly because, well because it's an emergency. Got it?" Lorelai asks Rory. Rory nods and heads off to call Emily. "I am going to call the doctor's and see if I can get you an appointment tonight."

"No, Mom, please don't! I'm fine, really."

"You're not fine." says Lorelai.

"Ok but please, just see if my body heals itself first. If it still hurts on Sunday you can book an appointment, ok?"

"Ok, fine." says Lorelai. "But you tell me if it gets any worse. And you are still feeling too bad to go to dinner, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes. I'm in way too much pain to go to dinner." says Mia, with a cheeky smile.

* * *

The doorbell rings on Saturday night.

"Oh god! Is that Dean? I'm not ready yet." says Rory.

"Calm down, Rory. It's probably not him. I'll get the door. Here." says Lorelai, handing Mia a hairpin. They are both doing Rory's hair for the dance. Lorelai gets up and answers the door. "Mom. Hi." she says, shocked.

"Hello, Lorelai." says Emily.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" says Lorelai.

"I'm fine, Lorelai, thank you for asking." says Emily, sarcastically.

"I'm sorry." says Lorelai, remembering her manners. "But, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to check if you're all alright. What kind of person tells their mother that they've had an emergency and aren't more specific than that! I was worried sick about all of you!"

"I'm sorry, mom. I didn't want you to worry."

"Well you did the opposite. What on earth happened?"

"Seriously, mom, it was nothing Mia just had a little fall." says Lorelai.

"A fall? Well where is she? Let me check if she's ok." says Emily, pushing past Lorelai and walking towards the girls' bedroom.

"No...mom...stop, it's nothing, really." says Lorelai's, following her and desperately trying to stop her. Emily takes no notice and bursts into the girls' bedroom to find Mia sitting on the bed fixing Rory's hair.

"Mia, are you ok? Your mother told me you had a fall." Emily says, she sits next to Mia on the bed and awkwardly wraps an arm around her.

"I'm fine, grandma. My back just hurts a bit, that's all."

"Right, well I'll make you a hot water bottle." Emily says.

"Mom, I made her one earlier."

"Well she doesn't have one now, does she?" Emily walks to the kitchen but stops in the doorway and turns round. Lorelai, Rory and Mia freeze. "Why are you so nicely dressed up, Rory?"

"There's a dance held by my school tonight, grandma." says Rory. Lorelai glares at her.

"Oh." says Emily. She turns and walks into the kitchen. Lorelai rolls her eyes and follows her.

"Mom, I'm sorry we didn't tell you about the dance." says Lorelai.

"Yes, well. It would've been nice to know. Nice to hear it from you, anyway."

"Well it didn't really matter, mom."

"No, it did matter, Lorelai. I thought I was becoming a bigger part of your life! I thought you were going to start involving me and telling me things like this! Otherwise I would've found out from someone else and how would that have made me look?"

"Someone else?"

"Yes, I do have a life outside of you, Lorelai."

"Oh that's strange because my whole life revolves around you, mom." says Lorelai, sarcastically. There's a pause.

"You didn't tell me about Mia, either." says Emily, quietly.

Lorelai softens. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm just not used to telling you about things. About the girls. I'm not used to telling anyone about the girls."

Emily looks over at her only daughter. "Christopher?" she asks, gently. Lorelai shakes her head, tears in her eyes. They make eye contact.

"Tell me about them." says Emily. Lorelai nods.

* * *

Lorelai waves Rory off from the front door.

"Have fun. Be back by midnight!" she calls after Rory and Dean.

"She looked beautiful." says Emily.

"I know. She always does." says Lorelai. "Right. Mia. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright." says Mia, from the couch.

"Aw, you're being very brace." says Lorelai, sitting down next to her. "Come on, let's watch a movie." she says, stroking Mia's hair.

"Have either of you eaten?" asks Emily.

"Yeah we had burritos." says Mia.

"Well that's not dinner! Let me make you something more substantial."

"Good luck with that, mom!" says Lorelai. "There is literally nothing in our fridge."

"Well you must have something." says Emily, walking into the kitchen. Lorelai raises her eyebrows at Mia, who smiles.

"You really don't have anything in here except, well now what is this!" says Emily. Lorelai and Mia exchange glances and giggle. Emily walks in carrying a mascara. "Lorelai, why is this in your fridge?"

"Someone told me it worked better cold!"

"Well that's a lie if ever I heard one! Why is this and half a carton of milk all you have in your fridge? What kind of household are you running here?"

"One with thick and voluminous lashes." says Lorelai. "I'm going shopping tomorrow, mom and we've already eaten."

Emily shakes her head and sits next to Lorelai on the couch. "Oh I love this movie!" she says as ' _Singing in the rain'_ begins.

"Yeah, this is always what we watch when one of us is ill or injured." says Lorelai.

"I used to show you this movie when you were ill as a child." says Emily.

"I know." Lorelai says, smiling.

* * *

When the movie ends, Lorelai tries to stand up.

"Mia. Kid!" says Lorelai. She looks up to see Mia has fallen asleep. She smiles and eases Mia's head onto the couch then she throws a blanket over her.

"Are you just going to leave her there?" asks Emily.

"Well I don't want to wake her, mom." Lorelai whispers.

"But she can't sleep on a couch!"

"It's fine, mom, really."

"No it's not! Here, I'll put her to bed." says Emily, bending to pick her up. Lorelai stops her.

"If you insist on her sleeping in her bed, mom, then I'll carry her through." Lorelai gently picks Mia up and rubs her back as she carries her to bed, followed by Emily who looks on wistfully. Mia stirs.

"What's going on?" she asks, sleepily.

"Hush, hush baby. It's ok. Go back to sleep. I've got you." Lorelai whispers. She lays Mia down in bed.

"May I?" asks Emily. Lorelai nods. Emily tucks Mia into bed and sits on the bed stroking her hair. "I missed doing this with you, Lorelai." says Emily, sadly. "From the age of eight you were far too stubborn to let me put you to bed. I so wanted to sometimes. At least I can make up for some of that time with your kids." she smiles sadly at Lorelai.

"Mom..." says Lorelai, sitting on the bed. Mia stirs again.

"Mom?" says Mia.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Go back to sleep." she kisses Mia's head and Mia goes back to sleep. Emily looks at her.

"Cherish this, Lorelai. All too soon it's over and they don't want you to tuck them in anymore. These moments are rarer than you think."

"I'm sorry, mom." Lorelai says, quietly. Emily smiles and sighs. "Come on. Let's not wake this child again."

They walk back to the living room.

"Oh goodness it's late." says Emily, noticing the clock says 11.30. Lorelai sniggers.

"Late?" she says.

"Well it is for me!" says Emily, defiantly. "I should probably get going."

"Oh no, mom! Don't drive! You can crash here tonight."

"Crash?"

"You can sleep on the couch and borrow some pyjamas." says Lorelai. Emily looks uncertain. "Please?"

"Fine."

"Great I'll go get you some pyjamas." says Lorelai. She comes downstairs with one of her shortest nightgowns and gives it to Emily with a smile.

"Really?" says Emily, giving Lorelai one of her patented 'Emily stares'. Lorelai retreats back upstairs and brings down some more suitable pyjamas.

Emily settles down on the couch then looks over at Lorelai.

"Aren't you going to bed?" she asks Lorelai, who's sitting in the rocking chair.

"Nah." says Lorelai. "I'm gonna wait up for Rory. She won't be long."

"Ok." says Emily. There's silence for a while then Emily takes a spare blanket and lays it over Lorelai. Lorelai smiles. Emily tucks her in and kisses her head before heading back to the couch. "You're a good mother, Lorelai."

"Thank you, mommy." says Lorelai.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter! Next chapter goes up next Sunday at two. Please let me know what you thought in the reviews. I love getting reviews and feedback. Also let me know if you have any ideas to make this story better. Thank you!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Welcome to chapter 16. This story now has over 5,000 views which is amazing to me. Anyway, if you remember, back when the story got over 1,000 views I said I'd write a longer chapter. This chapter is a bit longer than the others to celebrate getting over 5,000 views. Thank you so much. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _Mia gets out of bed. She feels her feet her soft rug so she scrunches her toes to enjoy the feeling. She looks at the bed next to her and Lorelai is there, smiling. Next to her is Harrison, Richard, Emily and Clara. "Where's Rory?" she feels herself say, but they don't respond. They just keep smiling. She walks through to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes sleepily. When she opens them, her kitchen isn't there. She blinks. There's nothing. She blinks again. Still nothing but blackness. She looks back into her bedroom to see everyone she loves. The room still looks soft and pink and familiar. She tries to walk back into it but the door closes. She's stuck in the blackness and she's falling. Falling and falling. "Rory!" she yells "Rory!" she's screaming now and crying and..._

Mia sits up on bed, the realisation that it was just a dream washes over her. None of it was real except the tears. Mia wipes her eyes. They were definitely real. Mia looks at her alarm. 5.06am. She lays back down to go back to sleep but she's too shaken up. Sleep is pretty much impossible. She rolls over and looks at Rory's bed, expecting to see Rory fast asleep, as she usually is at 5am. Her bed is made but completely empty. It looks cold.

Mia jumps out of bed at the speed of light and runs her hand over Rory's bed. Definitely cold, cold as ice. She opens her bedroom door. The kitchen, thankfully, is still there. She runs into the living room and goes to climb the stairs. Then she stops, freezes, and turns round slowly.

"Grandma?" she says. Emily is sleeping on the couch. Emily stirs and sits up wearing Lorelai's pyjamas. _Am I still dreaming?_ Mia wonders.

"Mia, good morning." says Emily. "Your mother let me stay here last night."

"Ok." says Mia, still a little shocked.

"What is so important that it can't wait until I've showered. It's Sunday morning!" Lorelai grumbles from the rocking chair.

"Mom, why are you sleeping on the rocking chair?" asks Mia.

"Yes, Lorelai, why are you still on the rocking chair?"

"Mom, Rory's not in our room."

Lorelai sits up and her brain clicks into 'mom mode'.

"I'm still in the rocking chair! Rory's not here! Oh my god!" Lorelai says, standing up and bolting upstairs. "Rory!" she yells. "Rory, sweetie, please! Oh please be here!"

"I thought you were waiting up for her!" Emily yells up the stairs.

"I was but I must've fallen asleep at some point and she never woke me up because she never came home." Lorelai says running down the stairs. "Rory!" she yells, running round the kitchen. "Rory, for god's sake just be here!" Lorelai shouts, running into the girls' room and looking around. "Please be here." she walks back into the living room, distraught. "What if something happened! Oh god I'm picturing the worst!" says Lorelai. Mia can tell she's close to tears.

"It's ok, mom. We'll find her." says Mia, softly.

"It most certainly is not ok!" says Emily, folding her arms. "How could you let this happen, Lorelai?"

"Seriously, mom? You're gonna make this my fault? Oh, of course you are! You're Emily Gilmore. I thought you changed but no! You're never not gonna be Emily Gilmore are you?"

"What kind of a question is that, Lorelai?" says Emily. "You lost a child! You only have two so, congratulations, Lorelai, you lost half your children."

"Mia go into your bedroom." says Lorelai in a low voice. The phone rings, distracting Mia. She picks it up quietly.

"Tell me, Lorelai, how do you lose half your children. How does one manage that?" Emily continues.

"Mia, room now." says Lorelai as Mia is still in the kitchen on the phone.

"Ok, thank you Miss Patty." Mia looks at Lorelai. "Patty found her asleep on the yoga mats next to Dean in her studio."

"Oh thank God she's ok. Now, Mia, please, go to your room." Mia turns sharply and walks in to her room shutting the door behind her. She can still hear the voices outside. She knows everything is about to blow up.

"Your sixteen year old daughter stayed out all night with a boy! What kind of a mother are you?"

"I don't know! Maybe the same kind whose sixteen year old daughter gets pregnant!" Now Mia's out the way, Lorelai explodes.

"Oh so that's my fault now, is it? Because everything is always my fault in your world, Lorelai. I am the anti-Christ, according to you. Global warming? That's probably my fault too!"

"Of course me getting pregnant wasn't your fault, mom. Just like this isn't my fault."

"She's going to get pregnant, Lorelai then what happens? She drops out of school? Will it be your fault then? God knows I feel responsible everyday for the way your life turned out."

"What do you mean by 'responsible', mom? What's wrong with my life?"

"Do you want the alphabetical list or the chronological one?" yells Emily.

"I can't believe you just said that to me. Get out of our house."

"She's just like you, Lorelai. She's going to get pregnant and ruin that big, bright future of hers. Just like you did."

"Mom! I was an angry kid, mom. A really angry kid. Whether that was my fault or yours, it doesn't matter but Rory, god save her, is not me. She is a good kid and I trust her and she won't get pregnant!. And I, I think I'm a good mom and I will never, ever be you!"

Rory walks in holding her shoes and hears Lorelai's rant. Her face is drenched in tears and she's shaking like crazy. She's scared what Lorelai will say but she also feels terrible about putting her mom through this. She hears Lorelai defending her and feels a little better.

Emily storms out of the house, slamming the front door behind her. Rory hides behind the wall, still shaking. She can hear her mom crying in the kitchen so she walks out.

"Mom..." she says, softly.

"You! How dare you stay out all night! Do you have any idea how scared I was! This is not you, Rory. I'm so disappointed in you right now."

Mia can hear Lorelai ranting at Rory from the bedroom but soon she hears Rory's voice fight back.

"You don't trust me at all, do you? You don't understand!"

Mia pulls her knees up to her chest and rocks back and forth. It's not like Lorelai and Rory to fight like this. Lorelai and Emily, yes but not Lorelai and Rory. This must be quite a big deal. The fight outside appears to be drawing to an angry finish. Mia doesn't really understand a lot of what it was about but she knows they're both going to be upset.

Rory storms into the bedroom and throws herself onto her bed, crying tears of anger and frustration. Mia watches her in silence, unsure what to say. She doesn't know whether to offer sympathy or advice. Neither seem like a good option.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" she finally asks.

"Nothing happened. That's the point." says Rory from her pillow.

"Rory it's six in the morning and you've just run home barefoot from Miss Patty's. I believe that is something."

"It wasn't like that!" says Rory, sitting up angrily.

"Uh, yes it was! Your feet are wet and it's 6.02."

"You're just like mom! You don't understand! You're just too young and you don't get it." Rory yells, throwing herself back on the bed.

"You're right." says Mia after a few seconds. "I don't understand. I don't understand this Rory. This is not the Rory I know. 'My Rory' would never be stupid enough to stay out all night with a guy. 'My Rory' doesn't try to excuse her mistakes instead of apologising. 'My Rory' doesn't yell at her mom and disrespect her and 'my Rory' never says I'm too young to understand. I don't know who this new Rory is, but I don't like her. I want my sister back."

Mia and Rory glare at each other then Mia leaves Rory alone in their bedroom.

* * *

Later that morning, Lorelai takes Mia to Luke's so they can get out the house and away from Rory for a bit. For Mia, it all feels a bit surreal. Everybody else is going about their normal Sunday morning but this morning has been anything but normal in the Gilmore house.

The bell rings as they walk into Luke's. Luke glances up briefly then does a double take.

"Lorelai?" he says, surprised.

"In the flesh." says Lorelai.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"But it's..." Luke checks his watch. "7.30 in the morning on a Sunday."

"And?" says Lorelai, groggily. "Other people are here."

"Yeah but you are never one of them. You're always asleep."

"Listen, as much as I love discussing my sleeping habits it's 7.30 on a Sunday..."

"I just told you that."

"Congratulations. As I was saying it's 7.30 on a Sunday and I am coffee-less."

"Coffee-less?" says Luke.

"It's been a long morning." says Mia. "One cup of coffee, two doughnuts and I'll have..." she scans the menu.

"Water. Water is what you'll have." says Luke. "My life mission is keep from becoming a coffee addict."

"Really? That's sweet!" says Mia.

"It's what motivates me." says Luke, gruffly. "Go find a table before your mom falls off the stool due to the world's largest caffeine crash."

"On it." says Mia. They find a table and sit down.

"Morning dolls!" says Babette from the next table.

"Morning Babette." says Lorelai, smiling.

"How ya doin, angels?" she says. "Patty told me she found Rory this morning. What's the deal with that?"

"Really, it's nothing, Babette. Just an honest mistake." says Lorelai.

"Are you sure? Because this would be great to tell East side Tilly. She's beaten me to all the gossip this week."

"I'm sure, Babette. Nothing happened, they just fell asleep."

"Alright, sugar, if you say so."

Lorelai glances over at Mia, who's giving her a look.

"Ok, Rory might have done a stupid thing but she's not a liar. I do trust her, I'm just mad at her."

"I didn't say anything!" says Mia.

"You thought it."

"You need coffee."

"I know. Luke? Luke!"

Luke walks over. "What do you want?"

"Just wondering when my coffee will be ready?"

"You see the other people in here, don't you? You are aware that I am Luke and that this place is called Luke's. It's my name plastered all over this building." He points to the big sign outside. Lorelai smiles and nods. "And as I am Luke and this is my place, most people could see that I am also serving all these other people, is that clear?" Lorelai nods again. "And therefore, your coffee is not my only responsibility."

"Is there a conclusion in sight because my brain can't keep up without coffee." says Lorelai.

"Conclusion." says Luke, getting angrier much to Lorelai's obvious delight. "Is that you will have to wait your turn for coffee."

Lorelai holds out a mug. "Coffee, please" Luke throws down his pad and pen, exasperated. "Get it yourself." he grumbles, heading back to the kitchen.

"I've still got so much to learn." says Mia

Lorelai smiles at Mia. "I feel a lot better now." she says, her eyes twinkling.

* * *

"They really stayed out all night!" says Harrison, his eyes wide. It's Monday lunchtime and Mia and Clara are relaying the weekend's events to Harrison.

Clara nods. "My mom was so mad. She grounded Dean for a month. He's not allowed to watch TV for two weeks and he can't see Rory until Lorelai says it's ok."

"My mom probably says it's ok now." says Mia.

"Didn't Rory get grounded?" asks Clara.

Mia shakes her head. "My mom doesn't really do 'grounding'"

"So how does she punish you?"

Mia thinks. "I can't remember her ever punishing me. She mostly just talks to us and we figure it out together. Once when I was seven, I told her Phoebe was my favourite Friends character instead of Ross, she gave me the cold shoulder for a few hours but when I begged her to stop, she did. We always do things democratically."

"What does that mean?"

"It's means we take a vote on important things. Like when we were picking a new house, we voted on which one we liked best."

"Weren't you, like, four, when you moved to your house?" asks Harrison.

"Yeah. And? My opinion still counted. It's my house too."

Harrison and Clara nod in agreement.

"I wish my parents thought like that." says Clara, wistfully.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter. Please leave reviews and, if you can, suggest any ideas for the next chapter or things you liked from the previous chapters that you'd like to see more of. Next chapter will be up next Sunday. Thanks again.**


	18. Chapter 17

"So your mom's not mad?" asks Dean, down the phone.

"Oh she was mad. But she's not anymore, we figured it out. It's Mia that's most mad at me." Rory replies.

"So...I can see you again."

Rory smiles. "That depends. Do you want to? Will you stay awake long enough?"

"I think I can manage. With a distraction, of course."

"What kind of distraction?"

"A beautiful girl should keep me awake."

"And where will you find one of those? I hear they're pretty hard to come by."

"Oh, I'm sure one will appear."

"Rory!" yells Mia. "Quit flirting with your boyfriend. We need to go get Grandma a Christmas present!"

"I have to go." Rory tells Dean, hanging up the phone.

"But I'll see you soon?"

"Of course."

* * *

"Don't worry Luke, I'm here!" Lorelai declares, bursting into Luke's diner. "I know you've been waiting for me and worrying about me."

Luke shoves a menu at her. "Order." he says, gruffly. "I don't have time for this."

"Oh, well!" says Lorelai, faking offence.

"It's ok, mom." says Mia. "He's secretly really relieved that his favourite customers are back. Isn't that right, Luke?"

"What?" asks Luke, putting down the coffee, annoyed.

"We're your favourites, aren't we?" asks Rory.

"Whatever." says Luke.

"We're his favourites." Lorelai smiles.

"I'll get coffee. You get a table." says Rory.

Mia and Lorelai head over to sit at a table. "Hi Kirk." says Mia, cheerfully.

"Don't talk to me." says Kirk.

"Have we upset you, Kirk?" asks Lorelai. Kirk nods. Lorelai kneels down next to him. "You wanna tell me why, sweetie?"

"I'm Luke's favourite." Kirk whines. "I deserve to be his favourite. I've been here way longer than you."

"Ok, Kirk, you're his favourite." says Lorelai.

"Kirk, how much longer have you been here?" asks Mia, casually.

Kirk stares at her. "I don't feel comfortable answering that."

"Damn it." Mia whispers under her breath.

"Trying to work out how old Kirk is again?" asks Lorelai, as they take their seats.

"Yeah." says Mia. "It really bothers me that no one know how old he is, not even Miss Patty."

"I'm pretty sure Kirk's mother doesn't even know how old he is. Personally, I like Gypsy's theory that Kirk wasn't actually born he just materialised as a fully grown man."

"I don't think we'll ever know." says Mia. "It will be a town mystery. Just like how no one knows why the snow cone machine from the winter festival goes missing the day after. Taylor gets really mad every year and it still goes missing."

"Oh they solved that one, didn't you hear? Turns out Andrew's cousin, the one who went to prison not the one from England, was taking it and selling it on the black market."

"Really? Why the snow cone machine, though?"

"That part is still town mystery."

Over at the counter Luke puts down two coffees.

"Thanks Luke!" Rory smiles, then she pauses. "These smell different." she says.

"No, they don't." says Luke.

"Yes, they do. And they look different."

"No. They don't." Luke repeats, agitated.

Rory dips her tongue into one cup and makes a face. "Luke!" she cries. "Decaf? Really?"

"It is sad that you know the difference in smells." says Luke.

"Luke, please. Get us some proper coffee."

"It rots you from the inside out."

"That's why we love it." says Rory. Luke rolls his eyes.

When he comes back with more coffee he asks "So the bag boy?"

Rory puts money on the counter. "I don't want to talk about it."

"He's trouble, you know. I've told your mom that from the start."

"Luke, please..."

"Boys are trouble, Rory. Stay away from them. Focus on college."

"Not all boys are trouble, Luke." says Rory.

"You're right. I am not trouble. Kirk is not trouble. Andrew, most of the time, is not trouble. All other boys should be approved by me." Luke says.

"Fine." says Rory. She knows it's just because he cares. "Thanks for the coffee."

As she's walking back to the table she hears Kirk and Luke talking.

"I can be trouble, Luke!"

"Kirk, no one is scared of you."

"I can be really sinister when I want to be."

"Correction: everyone is scared of you, Kirk, but not in a 'Oh no, he'll steal my daughter's heart way' in a 'why is he at my window at a 2am way'"

"That only happened once!"

Rory smiles to herself.

* * *

"Are you ready, Rory?" Mia asks as she stands signing Richard and Emily's Christmas card. "Do you want me to put your name on the card, mom?"

"Why not." says Lorelai.

"Please come to this Christmas party, mom. How am I supposed to survive it without you?"

"You've got Rory."

"We aren't talking at the moment."

"You just talked to her."

"We're not properly talking."

Lorelai sighs. "Hun, I'm sorry but I really can't deal with grandma right now."

"I don't wanna go with just Rory, mom. It'll be awkward."

"You two really need to get over this fight, you know? I hate it when you fight. Maybe forty minutes in a car together will help that."

Mia sighs. "Fine."

"When you get home we'll eat pizza and watch a movie, ok?"

"Pizza? I'll have just had a 3 course meal!"

"So? Your last name is Gilmore, isn't it?"

"Right, sorry, forgot my roots."

"You had me worried for a minute there. Rory! Time to go!"

* * *

Emily opens the door to see her two granddaughters.

"Hello girls! Merry Christmas."

"Hey grandma." says Mia, hugging her grandma.

"Hi grandma." says Rory, handing her the present. "Merry Christmas."

"Thank you, Rory." says Emily. "Go say hi to your grandfather, he's in the living room."

"Um, grandma. Can I talk to you?" asks Rory once Mia has left. "About mom."

"Oh, Rory, please, not here, not now."

"But grandma..."

"Rory, come meet my friends."

"Ok."

* * *

"So Mia, how's school?" asks one of Emily's friends.

"It's fine, thank you." says Mia politely.

"And you, Rory?"

"School is fine. Difficult but fine."

"Rory goes to Chilton." says Richard, proudly.

"Ah, a good school. My grandson went there."

"I'm going to lower the heat." says Richard, getting up.

"So girls, where is your mother tonight? We just love Lorelai, don't we?"

"She's sick." says Emily, jumping in quickly. Rory just nods and smiles along.

"Where is Richard?" says Emily. "He probably couldn't figure out the thermostat. Honestly, I have to everything for that man."

There's a polite silence at the table while everyone waits for Emily and Richard return. Then they hear Emily cry out.

"Oh my god! He's collapsed!"

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter. Please leave a comment or message me if you prefer that. Next chapter on Sunday. Thanks again!**


	19. Chapter 18

"Mom? Mom! It's Mia, on Rory's phone. Please call me back. We're on our way to hospital. Grandpa's collapsed. I don't know why. I have to help Rory. Please call back." _beep._

* * *

"Mom, it's Rory. We're leaving the house now. Can you meet us at the hospital?" _beep._

* * *

"Mom, it's Rory again. We're nearly at the hospital. Grandma's going crazy and grandpa's still unconscious. Mia's crying. I really need you, mom." _beep._

* * *

"Mom? Mommy, please come." _beep. End of messages._

* * *

"Hey Luke." says Lorelai sadly, walking into Luke's. Luke looks up at her.

"What's with the face?"

"What face? This is my face, Luke. Don't you know my face after all these years?"

"Of course I know your face, I see it every damn day and I know that it doesn't normally look that depressed."

"I got uninvited to my mother's Christmas party." says Lorelai.

"What did you do?" asks Luke.

"Why do you automatically assume I did something."

"That's not what I meant."

"That's what you said." Lorelai retorts.

"I meant, normally something happens to cause you two to fight." says Luke, patiently.

"When Rory stayed out all night my mother was there to witness it. And of course, she blamed it all on me."

Luke pats her shoulder awkwardly. "I'll make you a burger." he says. It's the only thing he thinks he can do to comfort her.

"Thanks Luke." says Lorelai, sighing. Ten minutes later, Luke returns with a burger. A santa burger.

"Aw Luke." says Lorelai. "You made me a Santa burger!"

"You deserve a Christmas party too." says Luke.

Lorelai smiles at him, cheekily. "A Christmas party?" she says. "So I can use my phone in the diner?"

"How are those two things linked?"

"It's a kinda Christmas present." says Lorelai, getting out her phone.

"Lorelai, no phones allowed!" says Luke, but she's already listening to her messages.

"Wow. The respect for my establishment is overwhelming." says Luke, sarcastically. Then he notices Lorelai's face.

"What's with the face? Why has it changed?" he asks, concerned.

"The girls." says Lorelai, grabbing her coat. "They've left loads of messages. It's my dad, he's in hospital. I have to get a cab. I have to go."

"I'll take you." says Luke, decidedly.

"But Luke..." says Lorelai.

"I'm taking you." Luke repeats, in a stern voice. Lorelai nods and follows him.

* * *

Lorelai and Luke arrive at the hospital to hear Emily ranting.

"That would be my mother." says Lorelai.

"She sounds just the way I pictured her." says Luke, casually. Lorelai stops walking.

"You picture my mother?" she says.

"Well, no...not a lot...just when you talk about her..."

"You're digging yourself a deeper hole, Luke."

"That's not what I meant."

"That's what you said." says Lorelai.

"You have to stop using that against me." Luke warns, but Lorelai is already walking towards her mother.

"Mom." says Lorelai. "What's going on?"

"Please help me." says the woman behind the desk.

"Mom, what are you doing to this poor women."

"Nothing." says Emily.

"Them why does she look like she just stepped out of Psyco?" says Lorelai. "C'mon, Mom. They're looking out for Dad, I'm sure."

The woman behind the desk nods in agreement.

"They'll be making sure he's safe and well and they'll be giving him the right medication." Lorelai continues, leading her mother to a chair.

"But he needs pillows." says Emily.

"They'll get him pillows." Lorelai soothes.

"That's right. We do provide pillows." says the woman behind the desk.

"You, shut up!" says Emily, aggressively.

"Run." Lorelai mouths to the woman. She runs quickly into the back room. "Mom, where are Rory and Mia?"

"Mia went to find something to eat, I think, and Rory's in the bathroom."

"Ok, mom. I'm gonna go find the girls and you're gonna stay here."

"Don't tell me what to do, Lorelai." says Emily.

"Fine. Just don't terrorise any hospital staff while I'm gone, ok?" says Lorelai. She doesn't wait for a response but walks off. In the corridor, she spots Luke.

"Everything ok?" asks Luke.

"I think so." says Lorelai. "We'll find out more later I guess. I'm going to find the girls. My mother's over there if you want to wait with her."

"Um..thanks." says Luke.

* * *

Lorelai bumps into Rory in the corridor near the bathroom.

"Mom!" she cries, wrapping her arms tightly round her mother. "You got our messages?"

"Of course." says Lorelai.

"It was so scary, mom. It's still scary. Mom, I'm not ready for him to... is he gonna...?"

"I don't know, kid." says Lorelai. "I hope not." Rory still looks upset. "Hey, he knows you love him. That's all he needs to know."

Rory nods.

"So where's Mia?" asks Lorelai.

"She went to find a vending machine." says Rory.

"Shall we split up to find her?" Lorelai suggests. They split off in different directions.

* * *

Rory finds Mia first.

"Mia, mom's here." says Rory.

"She is?" says Mia, excitedly. Rory nods. Mia looks at her, reproachfully. "Rory, this fight..."

"Is over." Rory says, interrupting her. Mia smiles and hugs her.

"Is grandpa gonna be ok?" she asks.

"I'm sure it will be fine." says Rory.

"Cus I don't want him to die." says Mia. "I want to get to know him more."

Rory breathes in sharply. No one's actually said the word 'die' yet. Rory looks at her little sister's blue, tear-filled eyes. "He knows you love him." says Rory. "That's all he needs to know." In times of doubt, quote Lorelai Gilmore. It seems to work.

Mia nods thoughtfully.

* * *

Lorelai, Rory and Mia meet up again in the hospital and head back to Emily. When they arrive, they see Emily and Luke chatting.

"Luke's here?" says Rory, surprised.

"Luke's here and you left him alone with grandma?" says Mia.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you." says Lorelai to the girls. "Mom! Hey!"

"Oh hello, Lorelai. I've been getting to know your male friend." says Emily, with a cheeky smile. "Of course, it was made harder as you forgot to introduce us."

"Sorry mom. Luke, this is my mother. Mom, this is Luke, he's my friend."

"Friend?" says Emily, her smile widening.

"Yes, mom, friend." says Lorelai, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing more?" Emily says.

"Oh god! Luke? No!" says Lorelai.

"Thanks." says Luke, from the bench.

"You're welcome." says Lorelai.

"Then how come he's here with you?"

"He is the keeper of the coffee." says Lorelai. She's about to continue when the terrified nurse calls out "Mrs Gilmore?"

All four Gilmore girls stand up.

"We would like to talk to you about your husband now." she says.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! As always, please leave a review or PM me. I love getting your feedback, it's so helpful. Next chapter will go up next Sunday.**


	20. Chapter 19

"So we can see him now?" asks Rory.

"Yes, dear. You can see him now." the nurse says, smiling at Rory.

"C'mon, Mia." says Rory. She takes her sister's hand and leads her out.

Lorelai looks over at Emily. "How you doing, mom?" she asks, gently.

"I'm fine, Lorelai." says Emily, sharply, turning away from Lorelai.

"Mom..." says Lorelai.

"I've been married to that man for 35 years, Lorelai. 35 years. That's longer than you've been alive. He's always been by my side. My right hand man and today.." she pauses. Lorelai hears the tears in her voice. "And today.. for the first time...I had to think about what it would be like to not be married to Richard Gilmore. I would be completely alone. And it would be horrible."

"Mom.." says Lorelai, moving closer to her. "You will always be married to Richard Gilmore." Lorelai pauses. "And you'll never be alone. You've got me and you've got my girls. We'll be here."

Emily looks at her as if to say something but Lorelai stops her.

"Go see dad, mom." says Lorelai. Emily nods and gets up.

"Aren't you coming, Lorelai?" Emily asks.

"I'm just gonna uh...talk to Luke, mom. He went to the bathroom." she says.

"Oh Luke, I see." says Emily, with a smile.

"Stop, mom!"

"I'm stopping, I'm leaving!" says Emily.

* * *

"Luke, hey!" says Lorelai, when Luke returns.

"Hey, how's your dad?"

"Good, I think. I haven't been to see him yet but the doctors say..."

"Why haven't you been to see him? C'mon let's go!" says Luke, pushing her to the door.

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down there."

"What is it?"

"I'm just waiting for Mia so..."

"Lorelai..." says Luke. Lorelai can tell Luke knows she's lying.

"I'm scared." she says, in a small voice. "I know I don't show it but I am."

"Lorelai, just go in there. Just be with him. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. When my dad was sick, I mostly just sat with him, sometimes just being there is enough."

"Thanks, Luke." says Lorelai. She turns to walk to Richard's room but she stops and turns around. "For everything."

* * *

Lorelai walks into Richard's room and the girls are taking it in turns to read him the paper.

"Hey mom!" says Mia, happily. "We're reading the paper with grandpa. He's telling us how all these famous people, politicians and that, messed up."

"Wow...ok." says Lorelai. "I hate to break up the economics lesson but girls could you go find your grandma? Where is she anyway?"

"She went to go find pillows." says Rory.

"In which case, could you find her and try to stop her from getting all the nurses fired for their lack of knowledge about the specific filling of their pillows?"

"Challenge accepted." says Mia. The girls leave.

After a few moments of silence, Richard says weakly "Hello, Lorelai."

"Hey dad." she says her eyes full of tears. They sit in comfortable silence. Each enjoying the others presence, but neither brave enough to speak.

"Dad, I..." Lorelai begins but she is interrupted by Emily who strides in with a batch of 'more adequate' pillows. She starts chatting to Richard so Lorelai smiles at her father, and slips out quietly.

* * *

Outside the hospital room, Rory and Mia are sat on a bench.

"Long day, huh?" says Rory. Mia nods, barely able to keep her eyes open.

"We can go home whenever, you know." says Rory. "I'm sure Luke will take us."

"I wanna stay." says Mia, sleepily. Rory sighs.

"Well what if I'm too tired to stay." Rory says.

"Then I guess I'd come home with you. Just to keep you company." says Mia, resting on Rory's shoulder. "I'm only thinking of you."

"Sure." says Rory. Mia sits up from Rory's shoulder and leans back against the wall. She can hear murmured voices so she turns and presses her ear to the wall.

"Rory, I can hear grandma and grandpa!" she says.

"Mia, don't eavesdrop! It's rude!" says Rory.

"Just this once." says Mia. She listens intently.

"Well if you're listening..." says Rory. She presses her ear against the wall.

"I demand to go first." Emily says loudly. The girls look at each other, shocked.

"Yes, Emily, you may go first." they hear Richard respond. Rory pulls Mia away from the wall.

"Wow.." she says.

"That's a crazy kind of love." says Mia. "That must be rare."

"You don't even know what love is." says Rory, dismissively.

"I do so!" says Mia. "I love you and mom and.."

"That's a different kind of love." says Rory.

"I hope I find it one day. Grandma and grandpa's kind of love." says Mia.

"Me too." says Rory.

"Don't you have it with Dean?"

"Well..no. Not yet, anyway. Maybe in the future or... love is a complicated thing, Mia..." Rory says.

Mia doesn't say anything. She just looks at Rory.

"I might love him like grandma loves grandpa one day." she says, softly.

"D'you think mom has that love with Max?" asks Mia.

Rory shuffles uncomfortably. "I don't know." she says, honestly.

"I hope she does." Mia continues. "She deserves it."

* * *

Mia is woken by Lorelai shaking her.

"Hey babe. Time to go home now." she whispers. Mia sits up. "Where's Rory?"

"In the cab already. Luke had to get home so I called us a cab."

"And grandpa?"

"Is going to be discharged in the morning. He'll be outta here before Billy Bob Thornton's next divorce."

"Thank god." says Mia.

"I know. He gave us all a fright but he's gonna be fine."

* * *

"Harrison!" says Mia, running into class.

"Hey! What happened to you? You were MIA all weekend. Huh, MIA, spells Mia. Ha!" Harrison giggles.

"My grandpa was in hospital." says Mia.

"Oh my god! What happened? Is he ok? Are you ok?"

"He's fine we're all fine, it was just a scare, that's all."

"Were you scared?" Harrison asks.

Mia nods. "Yeah, so scared. Mom was too even though she tried to pretend she wasn't. To put on a brace face for us, I could tell. I always can."

"That must've been horrible."

"I thought he was gonna die." says Mia.

"I can't remember when my dad died." says Harrison, in a very matter of fact way. "I do remember afterwards, though. When mom was crying. I remember I was scared of that. Mom crying."

"It's strange when parents cry, isn't it?" says Mia. "You remember that they can't always be brave. Mom couldn't be brave this weekend, even though she tried for me and Rory."

"At least he's better now." says Harrison.

"Yeah." Mia agrees. "And trust me, you will not find a better person to care for him than Emily Gilmore."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! I'm sorry this one's a bit shorter but the next one will definitely be longer. Let me know what kind of length you prefer chapters to be(within reason!) in the reviews or PM me if you like. I just wanna know if you like chapters the length they are(between 1,000 and 2,000 words) or if you'd like them a bit longer(between 2,000 and 3,000 words) or shorter(under 1,000 words). Thanks again! Next chapter on Sunday.**


	21. Chapter 20

Mia and Lorelai are sitting on the couch in the living room when Rory bounds in.

"Hey mom, you know how much you love me?" Rory says. "And how I'm your favourite daughter."

"Um, hello?" says Mia.

"What do you want?" says Lorelai, not looking away from the television.

"There's a Parent's day at school next week and as you are my parent..."

"Oh, Rory! Really? I'm really busy at the inn next week."

"Please mommy. I love you, mommy. I think you're really pretty, mommy." says Rory, batting her eyelashes.

Lorelai turns off the TV. "Is it really important that I'm there?"

"Yes." says Rory.

"Fine, I'll come but if anyone tries to make me do alegebra..."

"Then we'll leave straight away and file a complaint." says Rory.

"That's my girl." says Lorelai.

"What day next week?" asks Mia.

"Monday." says Rory "Why?"

"I've got a teacher training day that day. Can I come, mom?"

"Are you sure? I can leave you at the inn with Michel if you want."

"Michel?" says Mia, wrinkling her nose. "No thanks. I wanna come, anyway."

"Why?"

"To support Rory and learn about where I might go to school one day and..."

Rory snorts, interrupting her. Mia glares at her sister.

"Why do you really wanna come?" asks Lorelai.

"I wanna see Max again. I like him. He likes art."

"Yeah Max does like art." says Rory. "He knows a lot about it, too."

"Max?" says Lorelai. "Since when do you call him Max?"

"Since you two started getting serious." says Rory.

"I can't call him Mr Medina. He's not my teacher, he's my friend." says Mia.

"Oh." says Lorelai, concerned. This is just what she was worried about. Once the girls get attached there's no going back. What if it doesn't work out? Then they get hurt. That's not fair. Lorelai looks at the girls who are now discussing dresses for Friday night dinner. _I need to break this off._

* * *

"So Rory, what do we do now as we are 20 minutes early." says Lorelai, annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I thought we would be late!"

"So you told us school started half an hour early?" says Mia.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." says Rory. "And besides, if it did start at 8 we would've been 10 minutes late. I didn't want to be late for school."

"How are you related to me?" asks Lorelai, sarcastically.

"Ok. I'm gonna go to my locker. Stay here. Don't move." says Rory. "I'll be back soon."

As soon as Rory gets out of earshot, Lorelai grabs Mia's hand.

"C'mon. Let's see what this place has got to offer."

"Rory told us to stay here." says Mia.

"Rory also told us school started at 8 and made us wake up half an hour earlier than we needed to. You still wanna listen to Rory?"

"Fair point." says Mia, following Lorelai through the school halls.

* * *

"Look, creepy gargoyle number 17." says Lorelai. Mia giggles. "Hey look, a trophy cabinet. I wonder what they've won?" she peers into the cabinet. "Trust Chilton to have a trophy for curling."

"And three for fencing." says Mia. "This place is pretty fancy."

"Oh my god, I wanna know who won the trophy for dressage." says Lorelai, laughing.

"Let's leave the trophy cabinet now, mom." says Mia, pulling Lorelai away.

"But I love dressage!" says Lorelai.

They continue walking down the halls, Lorelai looking into every classroom.

"What are you looking for, mom?" asks Mia.

"Nothing, I'm just interested." says Lorelai. "You never know, maybe one of the teachers has a Dalek in their classroom."

"Why would a teacher have a Dalek in their classroom?"

"For protection." says Lorelai. Suddenly she stops.

"Mom? What is it?" asks Mia.

"Max's classroom." says Lorelai. She turns quickly to Mia. "Here." she says, thrusting a book at Mia. "Take this to him."

"What is this?"

"A book Max leant me. Proust, actually."

"Why are you asking me to give it back to him?"

"I finished it." says Lorelai, with a hopeful smile.

"Mom, I'm not Rory but I'm pretty sure you couldn't finish a book this thick written by a man named Proust in less than three months. Why are you really giving this back to him and why are you asking me to do it?"

Lorelai looks at the floor.

"You're breaking up with him, aren't you?" says Mia. There's a silence. "Do whatever you want." says Mia, with tears in her voice. "Just don't ask me to do your dirty work." she hands the book back to Lorelai. "I'm going to find Rory. Come back when you're done."

Lorelai watches Mia walk down the hall then turns to the door and sighs.

* * *

Rory is waiting patiently for Mia and Lorelai to return. When she sees Mia she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally! I expected you two to run off but I didn't think you'd take this long. Where's mom?"

Mia says nothing, she just stares at the ground.

"Mia?"

"I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you." Mia says, softly. "Mom didn't say I could and she might want to tell you herself."

"Kid, tell me." says Rory.

"She's breaking up with Max." says Mia. "She wanted me to give him back his book but I said she had to do it." Mia pauses. "Rory?"

"I can't believe she's doing this today, of all days." says Rory.

"Rory, don't be mad..."

"I'm not mad, I'm just annoyed."

"You look pretty mad."

"Mia!"

"Sorry but you do."

"Oh there's mom, I'm going in." says Rory, walking into her classroom.

"But Rory, she's crying." says Mia, but Rory's already in the classroom.

"Mom, are you ok? Did you and Max break up?"

"No, we didn't. I couldn't... I'm sorry, Mia." says Lorelai, wiping her eyes.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because you'll get attached to Max. He's great, who wouldn't? But what if we split up? It could affect you or make you feel unstable. This is why you've never got to know my boyfriends before because you could get hurt."

"I'm old enough now, mom. I won't get hurt."

"Mia, babe, you're nine. That's not old enough. Sixteen isn't old enough."

"Do you really want to break up with Max, if me and Rory had nothing to do with it?"

"You and Rory always have something to do with it."

"But just pretend." says Mia.

"Well, no."

"Then why are you so worried about it? If you don't want to break up with Max, then don't. That way, me and Rory won't get hurt."

"Mia..."

"Just don't overthink it, mom."

Lorelai smiles and shakes her head. "You're too smart for your own good."

"I'll take that as a compliment." says Mia. "Let's go in. We actually are late, now."

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. Thanks!**


	22. Chapter 21

"Mom, I'm sorry." says Rory.

"You promised, Rory!" says Lorelai, faking anger.

"I know. I didn't think we'd be doing algebra today!" says Rory.

"I thought you did great, mom." says Mia.

"Thanks, favourite child." says Lorelai. "I always found it hard in school."

"You're not alone." says Mia.

"Yeah, mom, most people don't like algebra." says Rory.

"I'm not talking to you." says Lorelai. Then after a pause she asks "What's next?"

"I thought you weren't talking to me." says Rory, playfully.

"Well...I wasn't but that got boring."

"Wow. You got bored with your own grudge." says Rory.

"Just tell me what's next." Lorelai whines.

"Lunch." says Rory.

"Yay! Mommy happy." says Lorelai. "I'm just gonna go to the bathroom first. I'll meet you in there."

"Mom didn't break up with Max, did she?" says Rory, after Lorelai's our of ear shot.

Mia shakes her head. "No. They must've talked it out."

"That's good."

* * *

Rory and Mia walk into the cafeteria and take a seat by the door. Straight away, they can tell that something's happened. The dining hall is buzzing.

"What's going on?" asks Mia.

"Oh, I don't know." says Rory dismissively. "There's always some rumour going round. Just ignore it."

Mia tries to ignore it but the buzz seems to be getting louder. Pretty soon, a group of boys walk over, blow kisses at Rory and laugh.

"Back off." says Rory, sternly. The boys leave giggling.

"What was that?" asks Mia.

"Just boys." says Rory rolling her eyes. A group of girls approach next. One of them looks at Mia with disgust.

"What's that?" she says pointing at Mia.

"A kid. You never seen one before?" says Rory, sarcastically. "And don't call her 'that'"

"Are you Rory Gilmore?" asks another girl.

"Yeah, why?" says Rory.

"Did your mom really kiss Mr Medina in his classroom?" says the girl.

Rory freezes and looks at Mia who looks back at her, eyes wide.

"Oh my god, it's true! Paris was right!" the girls shriek. Rory looks round. The whole cafeteria is pointing and laughing. At her. She can see Paris standing at the back.

"Paris? Wait here." says Rory to Mia. She gets up and storms out of the cafeteria to find Lorelai. Mia hunches over and lets her dark hair fall in front of her face, trying to become invisible. She's never felt smaller in her life. The group of boys come back over to her table.

"You're the sister, right?" one asks.

Mia nods.

"Man, your mom's such a slut." he says. Mia breathes in sharply, shocked by the word. Tears spring to her eyes. The boy looks Mia up and down. "You better hope the apple falls far from the tree." He says. "You wouldn't want to grow up to be like her." Mia blinks in shock, causing tears to fall down her face. She's always wanted to be just like mom. Mom's not like that. She's incredible. Why can't these boys see that? Mia stands up quickly, wipes her eyes and stares hard at the boy.

"You know nothing about me or my mom." she says, before leaving and wiping away the fresh tears that are falling down her face.

"Wow, Danny, you made a kid cry. Are you proud of yourself?" Mia hears Tristan's voice say behind her.

"Shut up, dude." says the boy, who Mia assumes must be Danny. Mia turns around. Tristan is staring this boy in the face angrily. Suddenly Tristan punches Danny hard in the jaw. Danny drops to the floor in pain.

"What the hell, dude!" Danny yells. Tristan is breathing heavily from the effort. He looks up at Mia who's standing just outside the cafeteria.

"Thank you." she mouthes to Tristan. Tristan nods and turns away.

* * *

Mia eventually finds her way to the toilet and collapses on the floor, crying. A lot has happened very quickly and it's a lot to take in. The door to the bathroom slams open and Paris storms in and angrily washes her hands. When she turns round, she notices Mia on the floor.

"What's wrong with you?" she asks.

"I'm crying." says Mia.

"You don't say." says Paris, sarcastically. "I can see that. Why?"

"I..um, well..."

"C'mon, spit it out."

"Someone, a girl called Paris, do you know her?" Mia asks. Paris slowly shakes her head.

"Well, anyway. Paris told the whole school about my mom dating one of the teachers, Mr Medina. It made my sister really mad and then these boys were mean about my mom and.." Mia breaks down in tears.

"Jeez, kid, I'm sorry." says Paris.

"Why? You didn't do anything."

"I know, I'm just sorry. Listen, it doesn't matter what other people say about you."

"I know that." says Mia.

"Right. Loads of people call me weird and intense but I'm still smarter than all of them. And you're nicer than all the people in this school put together. Including me."

"Thanks. You seem nice, though." says Mia. Paris smiles at her then gets up to leave. "What's your name, anyway? You never told me."

"Um..Anne. My name is Anne."

"Well, Anne, thanks for this."

"You're welcome." says Paris.

* * *

After Mia's cleaned herself up, she heads back outside, just in time to see Lorelai and Rory walking down the hall.

"There you are! Oh thank god!" says Lorelai, hugging Mia.

"This is a religious school, mom." says Mia.

"Right, sorry. I'm just so happy you're ok. We're gonna go home, now. It's the best thing to do. I know that Paris saw Max and I kissing. I'm sorry girls that was stupid." Lorelai says. "Rory, why did you leave Mia alone?"

"Oh come on, mom, this is a school. What could happen to her?"

"Tristan punched a boy in the face cus he called mom a slut." Mia pipes up.

"What?!" says Rory.

"We'll talk about this more in the car." says Lorelai, lost for words. "Rory, honey, go to class and Mia, please don't ever say that word again, baby. Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter. I absolutely LOVED writing this one so hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. Next chapter next week, as usual.**


	23. Chapter 22

Lorelai looks in the mirror and adjusts her dress, again.

"Mom, seriously, you look fine. Anyway, you're just going on this date for Sookie's sake, right?" says Mia.

"That doesn't mean I can't look nice. You never know, Jackson's cousin might be Brad Pitt."

"I highly doubt that." says Mia.

"But still, it's a possibility."

"What is?" asks Rory, bouncing in.

"That Jackson is related to Brad Pitt."

"Yeah, no." says Rory. She stops at Lorelai's make up table and picks up a some earrings.

"Help yourself." says Lorelai, sarcastically. Rory ignores her.

"Oh, cute, I'm taking these."

"Rory, honey, they won't suit you, our colouring doesn't match them. Mom bought them for me."

"They're not for me they're for Lane. I'm helping get her dressed up."

"Yeah, they'll look great on Lane, tell her she can keep them."

"Lane's mom hates earrings but I'm sure she'll take them anyway, just to look at." says Rory.

"Where are you two going tonight, anyway?" asks Lorelai.

"The movies, with Dean." says Rory, looking down. Lorelai doesn't notice this as she's back searching through her wardrobe.

"Ok, not to late and be safe." says Lorelai, from inside the wardrobe.

"Sure." says Rory, still looking at the floor.

"Mom?" says Mia. "Did the wardrobe eat you? Are you in Narnia?" Lorelai doesn't respond.

"If you are, bring me back some of that Turkish Delight." says Rory.

"Oh! I know! I need that blue blouse! Where is it?!" says Lorelai, suddenly reappearing.

"What, no Turkish Delight?" says Rory.

"You mean the blue blouse that's been on the bathroom floor for a week?" asks Mia.

"That's the one!" says Lorelai rushing out.

Rory picks up the earrings and starts to leave when Mia calls her back

"You're not really going to the movies with Dean, are you?" asks Mia.

"What? Of course we are."

"No, you're not." says Mia. "I know that face, Rory. Tell me what's going on. I won't tell, I promise."

"I'm going to the movies with Lane and Dean."

"Rory..."

"Fine. We are going to the movies with Dean but Dean is also bringing his friend, his friend that Lane has a massive crush on. Nobody knows and Mrs Kim would kill Lane if she found out. I'm trying to help out a friend."

"Oh, Ok."

"You won't tell?"

"Of course not."

"Thanks kid." says Rory, then she pauses. "Did Tristan really punch that guy in the face for you?"

Mia nods. "Yeah. Really hard. It knocked that Danny guy to the floor. Thank him for me."

"I will." says Rory

* * *

"Ok, mom, we're leaving." Rory calls into the house.

"You look beautiful, babies!" says Sookie, pinching their cheeks.

"Thanks Sookie." says Rory. "Mom? We're actually leaving now!"

"Ok, bye kid. Home early please, it's a school night." says Lorelai. The doorbell rings.

"That's our dates!" says Sookie, following her.

Lane, Rory and Mia listen to Lorelai introduce herself and then...silence. Then they hear Jackson and his cousin having a loud conversation which is clearly supposed to be private about Lorelai's height. Rory raises her eyebrows to Lane. Mia looks out the window and giggles.

"What?" asks Lane.

"Definitely not Brad Pitt." says Mia. Lorelai walks back in and picks up her purse.

"Did you hear that?" asks Lane.

"Yep. That's my date. Isn't he delightful?" says Lorelai, through gritted teeth, as they walk towards the door. Just before they leave Lorelai stops.

"Wait. Rory and I are both leaving the house with our two main babysitters and you," she turns to Mia. "Are alone. This is a problem."

"No it's not." says Mia quickly.

"Well I guess we could take her..." says Lane.

"No she's too young to get into the movie." says Rory.

"So? She's pretty small. She could climb under the guy's legs right?"

"Looks like I'm taking her." says Lorelai.

"No I don't want to fifth wheel on your date. I'll just stay here." says Mia.

"Nope. Next suggestion?"

"Please mom, I'll be fine. This is Stars Hollow. The last break in was when Kirk got lost and couldn't find his house so he ended up asleep on Taylor's sofa bed. Now, we both know I could fight Kirk and win so I don't see what you're so worried about. Besides, I'm nine for goodness sake!"

"Exactly, you're nine. I'm not leaving you alone. You're coming to the restaurant with me."

"Ok if I can't stay here alone can I please go to Harrison's? His mom can watch me." says Mia, desperately.

"Great. You're going to Harrison's. Right. Let's go on a date." says Lorelai, grimly.

"Hey, you're the greatest friend. I love you for this." says Sookie. "I'm gonna bake you a cake to say thank you. Oh and cookies!"

"You better." says Lorelai, stepping out the door.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Sorry it's kind of short but it's been a busy week. Next chapter I think I'm going to switch perspectives between Rory, Lorelai and Mia. Also I'll do another Friday night dinner because we haven't had one of those for a while. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought!**


	24. Chapter 23

"Hey, this is going Ok, right?" Asks Sookie, pulling Lorelai aside before they go into the restaurant.

"Sookie, what planet are you living on?" says Lorelai. "This is awful. Every time I try to talk to Rune he looks like he's in pain. Physical pain. I hate to think talking to me could do that to a man. And you, you haven't said a word to Jackson all evening. Come on, Sookie."

"I'm just nervous." says Sookie. "I've never been on a proper date like this to a fancy restaurant."

"Sookie, it's Jackson. You know Jackson. You like Jackson. Just talk to him, give the guy a chance to impress you. He clearly wants to."

"Really? Ok!"

"But don't leave me alone with Rune. I'm not asking for a long, romantic evening but if you could get him to be civil to me and have a conversation that would be nice."

"I'll do my best." says Sookie.

Once they've got into the restaurant and settled down, Sookie smiles at Lorelai then turns to Rune.

"So Rune, Lorelai runs an inn, that's cool, huh?"

"I caught head lice from an inn once." says Rune. "Their pillows are filthy."

"My pillows don't have head lice!" says Lorelai, defensively. Sookie waves away this comment and tries again.

"What about kids, Rune? You like kids? Lorelai's got two kids and they're adorable."

"What are their names?" asks Rune, with slight interest.

"Um, well the oldest is called Rory, Lorelai actually, and the youngest is called Mia." says Lorelai, surprised by interest and eager to have a conversation.

"Oh." says Rune, looking disappointed. "Girls."

Lorelai looks at Sookie and smiles through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry!" Sookie mouths. "I love you!"

Lorelai smiles again, then sighs and looks back at Rune, who's sorting all the courgettes out of food and into a tiny pile on the table.

* * *

"I hate lying to my mom, Lane." Rory moans.

"I know but come on, Rory, you never lie to your mom and I lie to mine on a daily basis. This is just a white lie, at least you're not lying about your whole personality."

"It just feels wrong." says Rory.

"I know but it's done now. Relax. Enjoy yourself. What time did you say the boys would meet us?"

"7." says Rory. "They'll be here soon."

"I'm so excited!" says Lane.

"Yeah, me too." says Rory, smiling and feeling a little better.

* * *

Mia and Harrison are sitting on Harrison's couch eating pizza.

"So where's your mom tonight?" Harrison asks.

"She's out with Sookie, Jackson and Jackson's weird cousin."

"Oh." says Harrison. "So what do you wanna do tonight?"

"I don't know. Play a game maybe?"

"My mom gave all our games to charity."

"What about a movie?"

"You've seen all the movies we've got a million times."

"Ok, how about we talk then?"

"Sure. What about?"

"About this wonderful moment picture!" says Mia, smiling with delight when she spots a baby picture of Harrison looking very annoyed. "I love this! Why have I never seen it before?"

"Oh I hate that picture!" says Harrison.

"Aw you look cute!" says Mia.

"That's like me saying you look cute in that naked baby photo of you."

"What photo?"

"The one next to the phone."

"Oh, that's Rory, not me."

"How can you tell the difference? You looked so alike as babies."

"Oh I can't. No one can except mom. Generally I look at the clothes. Almost all of Rory's baby clothes were homemade whereas mine were mostly store bought."

"Did you not get Rory's hand-me-downs."

"No. By the time I was born all of Rory's baby clothes had fallen apart and mom didn't have time to make clothes with a new baby and a seven year old." Mia looks back at the picture. "Who's that holding you?"

"My dad." says Harrison.

"Oh." says Mia. Whenever anyone brings up Harrison's dad he freezes up completely. They've never talked about it before. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe." says Harrison. There's a pause. "It just sucks, you know? My dad was such a good dad. He was the best. I don't understand why he had to die."

"I know." says Mia, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

"I know you hate your dad, Mia, but you're lucky he's still alive."

"I guess I am." says Mia, uncomfortably. "I just wish my dad was a better dad. You know he's never been to Stars Hollow. I haven't seen him in nearly a year."

"When are you next going to see him?"

"I don't know. Mom stopped telling us when he was planning to see us because she couldn't stand it when he didn't show up and I cried. Now when we see him it's always a surprise to us. It's a surprise to mom too sometimes."

"Do you think he ever will come to Stars Hollow?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"I've never met him."

"He's not a bad guy." says Mia. "He's just a terrible dad and he doesn't even try to get better. He just leaves it all to mom and he left us. All of us."

"Is that why you hate him?"

"That's why I can't forgive him."

* * *

Lorelai, Sookie, Jackson and Rune have decided to head to Luke's. On the walk there, Lorelai trails behind Sookie and Jackson, who are talking and giggling, but just ahead of Rune. As she's walking, she's thinking about all the better things she could be doing with evening. She's so lost in thought that she doesn't look up until she hears Sookie shout "Rory! Hey!"

Lorelai looks up to see Rory, Lane, Dean and...who is that? Another guy. Lorelai sighs and throws her head back. How could Rory be so stupid? She walks over to deal with the situation but she's intercepted by Mrs Kim. Mrs Kim is shouting at Lane. Lorelai makes eye contact with Rory and gives her a disappointed look. Rory looks at the ground. Eventually Mrs Kim grabs Lane's arm and pulls her away. Lorelai walks in closer.

"Hey there!" says Dean's friend, moving in closer and sidling up to Lorelai.

"No." says Lorelai, putting up her hand. She turns to Rory. "Rory, what is this?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think." says Rory.

"I can't believe you lied to me."

"It felt horrible and I won't ever, ever do it again."

"Oh you will." says Lorelai. She sighs. "I know you sixteen now and you're kind of a grown up but please tell me this 'going behind my back' isn't something I'm gonna have to get used to."

"It's not. I'm really sorry, mom."

"Mom!" says Dean's friend. Dean kicks him. "I'm sorry, but she does not like a mom, dude!"

Lorelai ignores him. "Come on, Rory. Let's go to Luke's and get dinner."

* * *

Lorelai and Rory walk into Luke's and sit at the counter.

"Give me a dry gin, bartender." says Lorelai.

"A caffeine addict and an alcoholic." says Luke. "She's quite a catch, fellas."

"For your information, wise guy, I went on a date this evening." says Lorelai, proudly.

"You did?" says Luke, slightly worried, pouring Lorelai coffee.

"I did." says Lorelai.

"With who?" asks Luke.

"Well... you know... just some guy I met." says Lorelai, embarrassed.

"Him." says Rory, pointing at Rune, who's trying to bend a fork backwards. Luke sniggers.

"Hey, don't mock!" says Lorelai. "I've had a hard enough evening."

"So you're not going out with him again?"

"Oh god no!" says Lorelai. Luke smiles subtly but Lorelai notices.

"Here." says Luke, handing her pie. "On the house."

"You're a good man, Luke Danes." says Lorelai, tucking into her pie. Luke smiles and returns to the kitchen.

Lorelai turns to Rory. "So did Lane actually like Dean's creepy friend who hit on me?"

"No. Not after she talked to him and they exhausted topics of conversation after five minutes."

"Well I least I didn't break up a potential marriage, then." says Lorelai.

"Definitely not." says Rory, laughing.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! I really hope you like it:). Please let me know what you thought. Thanks again!**


	25. Chapter 24

"Well, here we go again." says Lorelai, outside the Gilmore mansion.

"Hey, you know when you have a little kid who really hates bedtime? And you spend the whole day dreading the evening because you know that you're going to have to battle with them yet again? This is kinda like that."

"So I behave like a kid?" says Lorelai. "It's good to embrace your inner child."

"Parts of your inner child, yes." says Mia. "But I'm pretty sure everyone could do without the tantrums."

"I don't throw tantrums!" says Lorelai.

"Well then what was that in the car?"

"An expression of emotion." says Lorelai. Mia rolls her eyes. "Hey, drop the 'tude!"

"I'm sorry it just feels like we've been outside this house forever. C'mon already, I'm hungry!"

"Fine, Fine." says Lorelai knocking on the door. Emily opens the door and stares at them, deadpan.

"I'm pleased to see you thought this dinner important enough to show up, hello Rory, Mia."

"Hey grandma."

"I was worried you were attacked by savage wolves on the way or you got lost in the deep, dark woods of Hartford."

"Jeez, mom, could we possibly be late?" says Lorelai.

"No, no it's fine, come on in." says Emily, forcing herself to be polite. They make their way through to the lounge.

"Hello, girls. I'll get you your drinks." says Richard. "How was the journey?"

"Good thanks, grandpa." says Rory.

"No traffic?" he asks.

"Nope." says Mia.

"Oh. I thought there was traffic."

"No, there was no traffic. No wolves, either." says Emily, glaring at Lorelai.

"How's the drink coming, Dad?" says Lorelai.

* * *

"Rory, Mia, time for school!" says Lorelai, knocking on their bedroom door.

Rory walks out. "I'm ready to go." she says. "I'm just gonna grab my bag then I'm outta here."

"Uh, no I don't think so." says Lorelai.

"What, Mom? I'm gonna miss the bus."

"You have to eat. Here." says Lorelai, handing her a pop tart and a coffee cup.

"What a nutritional breakfast." says Rory, sarcastically.

"Hey, is your sister up?"

"I think so."

"Mia! Time for school!"

"I don't wanna go!" says Mia, from the bedroom.

"No one does, sweetie." says Lorelai. "So Rory, how's school going?"

"It's really difficult." says Rory. "I'm really behind."

"You'll catch up." says Lorelai.

"Yeah, but I don't know how." says Rory.

"Just be you." says Lorelai. "You're smart enough to catch up."

"Sounds easy." says Rory.

"What about the other kids? You made any friends?"

"Not really. The other kids are either really annoying or they hate me."

"How could anyone hate you?" says Lorelai.

"Ask them."

"I will, if I ever see them."

"Well, you might. My science group need a place to study and this is the only place available."

"Our house?" says Lorelai. "That's great! You can win them over."

"I don't know about that." says Rory. "Paris is one of them. Remember Paris?"

"I do." says Lorelai, grimly. "What a treat she was. Anyway, it doesn't matter."

"I really have to go, mom. I'm gonna miss the bus."

"Ok, babe have a great day." says Lorelai, kissing her cheek. "Mia come on!"

Mia shuffles out of the bedroom, dragging her bag.

"I can't believe you're making me go to school." says Mia.

"I know, I'm a cruel mother." says Lorelai, handing her another pop tart and pushing her out the door.

* * *

Rory opens her locker and puts her books away. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Tristan skulking past. She closes her locker and runs over to him.

"Tristan, hey Tristan!" says Rory.

"What do you want, Mary?" says Tristan.

Rory ignores the 'Mary' comment and carries on. "I just wanted to say thanks for what you did."

"What did I do, Mary?"

"It's Rory. You punched that guy who was teasing my sister."

"Oh yeah."

"Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you. Mia says thank you too. You did a good thing, Tristan and I think I judged you wrong. We can be friends now, if you want."

"Friends?" says Tristan.

"Yeah."

"I don't wanna he friends with you, Mary. I didn't punch that guy for you or your weird little sister..."

"She's not weird!"

"I don't care. I punched him because he's an asshole. I've been wanting to punch him for ages. Your sister just gave me an excuse."

"Tristan..." says Rory, but he's walking down the hall.

"See you round, Mary."

* * *

"Mom! We're home!"

"You're mom's here?" says Madeleine. "Huh. Mine's always out drinking at this time."

"Mine's 'working'" says Louise with air quotation marks.

"I don't wanna know about your parents creepy social life." says Paris. "I wanna study."

"Sure, Paris. In here."

"Thanks." says Paris, walking into the living room.

"Boy, your house is tiny." says Louise.

"We like it this way." says Rory.

"How do you afford Chilton?"

"My grandparents pay for it." says Rory, awkwardly.

"I couldn't care less about this. Please let's focus."

"Ok Paris."

"Hey, girls!" says Lorelai, bounding down the stairs. "You working hard?"

Madeleine, Louise and Paris nod.

"Nope." says Rory, honestly. "We can't focus."

"I'm not surprised." says Lorelai, picking up a piece of paper. "Maybe some snacks will help? We have loads of food and none of it's healthy."

"Sounds great." says Rory. Lorelai walks to the kitchen.

"That's your mom?" asks Louise. Rory nods.

"Wow. She's looks crazy young. How old is she?"

"32." says Rory, uncomfortably.

"She had you at sixteen!" says Madeleine. "Wow. How olds your sister?"

"9." says Rory.

"So she had her at 23. And your dad's not around. Interesting."

"Very." says Louise. "Do you and your sister have the same dad?"

"Can we not discuss my mother's personal life anymore?"

"I agree." says Paris.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter! Sorry it's up late it's exam season😥. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. Your feedback makes me really happy and helps me with the story. Next chapter on Sunday at 2.**


	26. Chapter 25

"Please, mom, please, please, please!" begs Mia.

"Mia, Oh my god! How many times! No." says Lorelai.

"Oh, come on! It's not fair. You and Sookie are going!"

"We're adults." says Lorelai. Mia snorts with laughter. "Legally." Lorelai adds.

"But Rory and Lane are going. Please, mom."

"Mia, I'm not taking you to this concert."

"But it's The Bangles. I love The Bangles."

"I know you do honey, but I'm still not taking you to this concert."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please, please, please. Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Kid, stop being annoying. I said no. You're staying with your grandparents tomorrow evening."

"What?" says Mia.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that part." Lorelai smirks.

"You're mean." says Mia. "You're leaving me there all night?"

"No I'm not that mean." says Lorelai. The door slams shut. "Rory? Is that you?"

"Yeah." says Rory. "Hey we have an extra ticket for the concert. Lane can't think of an excuse to tell her mother."

"Mom?" says Mia.

"You're not coming. You're too young." says Lorelai. "Rory? You got any other friends you wanna bring?"

"No." says Rory.

"What about those girls that studied here last night? You four could have the tickets and me and Sookie can sit on the back."

"I hate those girls. I'd rather see the concert with you, Sookie and Mia."

"Yes!" says Mia.

"You're still not coming." says Lorelai. She turns to Rory. "And I want you to have friends at school, honey. You're gonna be there for three years. It's gonna be a lot easier if you have a few friends."

"I guess I could ask them." says Rory.

"Ask them." says Lorelai.

"And you're sure you don't mind sitting in the back."

"Oh, it's fine."

"Great, thanks mom."

* * *

"I can't believe you're doing this to me." says Mia.

"I'm sorry kid, it was the only choice! Although right now I'm feeling pretty evil."

"You should be."

"Mom! Hurry up! We can't be there late, we've got the tickets!" Rory yells from the car.

Lorelai sighs and rings the doorbell.

"Ah, Mia! How lovely! We've been expecting you." says Emily, opening the door.

"That was quick, mom. Have you been waiting by the door?" says Lorelai. Emily ignores her and guides Mia inside, leaving Lorelai on the doorstep. Lorelai rolls her eyes and follows.

"We've got loads of games and I've bought movies if we can figure out how to work the DVD player. You might be better at it than us!" says Emily, laughing. "And I didn't know what you like to eat so I had Esmeralda prepare a choice of things."

"Wow, grandma, that sounds great." says Mia.

"Yeah, mom, you've got a whole daycare set up in here." says Lorelai.

"Oh, Lorelai. You're still here." says Emily.

"And that's my cue to leave." says Lorelai.

"Say your goodbyes then come through to the other room. We've got hungry hippos all set up. I've never played it but it looks like so much fun!" says Emily, walking into the other room.

"Come here, kid." says Lorelai, opening her arms. Mia hugs her tight. "Sorry I'm leaving you."

"Hungry hippos?" says Mia. "This is a lot."

"I know, but it's not for very long."

"Grandmas so excited about it, though." says Mia.

"Yeah. I guess she's just excited to get you on your own. Listen, don't let her make you do anything you don't want to. Say no. Be strong. Do you know where the phone is?" Mia nods. "And you know my cell number by heart?" Mia nods again. "So call me if you need anything."

"Mia? Come in here. We're ready to play!" Emily calls.

"I wonder how the mechanism inside the hippos mouth is operated?" says Richard. Mia looks desperately at Lorelai.

"I really won't be long." she says. "Sit tight and play hungry hippos."

"But I hate hungry hippos!" says Mia.

"Yeah but you'll like the food." says Lorelai. "Say what you like about the Gilmores but they always serve good food."

"Yeah." says Mia.

"I better go kid. I'll be back soon." says Lorelai, walking out. Mia takes a deep breath and walks into the other room.

* * *

"So we're here!" says Lorelai, excitedly.

"Whoop de doo." says Paris, sarcastically.

"You didn't have to come, Paris." says Rory. Lorelai ignores this and carries on.

"Meet us outside as soon as it's over."

"And don't go off with any childcatchers or anything." says Sookie.

"The childcatcher from Chitty chitty bang bang isn't real, Sookie." says Lorelai.

"Well, I worry." says Sookie.

"Ok, girls. Here are your tickets. Be safe and enjoy the concert. Rory, be quick out. I don't want to leave your sister at mom and dad's too long."

"We'll be right out." says Rory, walking into the concert with Madeleine, Louise and Paris.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Sorry it's so short but I've had so many exams . Now my exams are over I'm going to try and get the story moving at a quicker pace. Please leave a review. I love to read them. Next chapter is next Sunday. Thanks again.**


	27. The Sleeping Beauty of Hartford

Lorelai knocks on the door of the Gilmore mansion and is met quickly by Mia.

"Shh!" she says.

"What?" asks Lorelai.

"Shh!" says Mia, again.

"Sorry." Lorelai whispers. "Hey kid, you wanna tell me why we're whispering?"

"Follow me." Mia whispers. She leads Lorelai into the living room where Richard and Emily are fast asleep.

"They fell asleep?" Lorelai whispers.

"Come on." says Mia, leading Lorelai into the kitchen. "You can talk properly now." says Mia.

"They fell asleep!" Lorelai repeats, louder.

"I know." says Mia.

"They fell asleep while babysitting you?" says Lorelai again.

"Yeah. I know." says Mia again. "They've been asleep for an hour."

"Ok, so fill me in. What've you done these past five hours?"

"Well, we played endless games of hungry hippos and then grandpa dismantled the game to inspect the mechanism and grandma talked to me about the art of flower arranging."

"Oh kid."

"But wait, there's more." says Mia. "That was only the first hour. After that, grandpa showed me his collection of cigars and pointed out his favourites to me."

"What." says Lorelai.

Mia waves away this comment. "Still more." she says. "Then we had dinner which, you were right, was incredible even though grandma wouldn't tell me what kind of meat it was. After dinner, they asked me what my hobbies were and I said painting. They got very excited and asked me to paint them a picture which is now hanging on the wall, there." says Mia, pointing out of the kitchen door to a picture on the wall in the dining room.

"Well it's a pretty picture." says Lorelai.

"After that, grandma pulled out the videos. We watched a painfully long Sleeping Beauty because the tape was scratched."

"Oh, I know that tape!"

"Yep. The one where the princes face becomes deformed every time the tape skipped. It was kind of disturbing actually. When Sleeping Beauty was finally over, they asked me what I wanted to do and I said 'Tag' as a joke but they took me seriously so we spent the next half hour running around the house. When that was over they sat down on the couch and started talking. Their voices got softer so I let them fall asleep."

"You really tired them out." Lorelai laughs. "So what've you been doing for the past hour?"

"Well I explored the house." says Mia. "I found your old room and some of your old pictures."

"That room hasn't changed since the day I left." says Lorelai. "It's like a time capsule. I think they didn't change it in case one day I care back."

"I played with your old dollhouse too."

"My dollhouse? You played with my dollhouse?" Lorelai says softly. Mia nods. "I always wanted you and Rory to have that dollhouse but it was too heavy to bring with me."

"It's massive. It wouldn't fit in our room." says Mia.

"I'm not convinced it would fit in our house." says Lorelai.

"How come you're late, anyway?" asks Mia.

"What?"

"I was only supposed to be here four hours, I've been here five."

"Oh, well that's my story." says Lorelai. "Towards the end of the concert, two of Rory's friends ran off with some college guys."

"Rory told you those girls were stupid."

"Yeah well, I should've listened. Anyway, they ran off to some frat party round the corner. I had to go over there, drag them out of there, yell at them, yell at the guys. It wasn't fun. They thought they could do whatever they liked with me watching them and I wouldn't care. I wasn't too strict, was I?"

"Mom, that's one of the times when you need to be strict. You helped those girls. Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't dragged them out of there."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on, let's go. Rory's waiting in the car."

"Should we leave them a note? I feel like we should leave them a note." says Mia.

"I feel like I should draw moustache on them but a note works too."

"I'll get paper." says Mia.

"Hey, tell them I got here on time." says Lorelai. "They don't need to know about this."

"Ok, sure." says Mia.

"Come on, let's get out of here." says Lorelai.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, or gentleman in this case, this is the night you've all been waiting for." says Lorelai, filling a bowl with chips. "It's time for..."

"The Donna Reed show!" the girls chorus from the living room.

"That's right." says Lorelai, walking into the living room. "And boy have we got a treat for you. Tonight we see heartbreaking scenes of Donna Reed making yet more food."

"And the heartwarming moment when the food turns out perfectly...again." adds Mia.

"Ok, I'm intrigued. I wanna why you guys like this show so much." says Dean.

"Ah, Dean. Tonight your life will change forever because you will have a new friend. Donna Reed." says Lorelai.

"It's a pretty awesome show." says Rory.

"Quiet now, my children." says Lorelai. "Donna Reed is about to begin."

"I'm so excited!" says Mia. Lorelai shushes her.

* * *

After Donna Reed has finished, Rory walks Dean out.

"Boy, you, your sister and your mom sure love mocking that show." says Dean.

"Well yeah." says Rory. "It's a great show to mock. Donna Reed has been a tradition in the Gilmore house since I was little."

"Oh." says Dean. "So it's your mom who hates Donna Reed? That's her opinion? Not yours?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's her opinion. She influenced you." says Dean.

"Well, Yeah it is my mother's opinion but I happen to agree with her. I have my own opinions Dean, my mother doesn't control me."

"I know, I know, I just don't think that premise is...so bad."

"What?"

"You know, the wife looking after her husband. I just think it's nice. That's all."

"Look, Dean, I'll see you tomorrow just leave, please."

"Rory.."

"Bye Dean."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Hope you enjoyed the incredibly long first part(I don't know maybe it's not that long but it felt long for me!) Please leave reviews or feedback. I love reading feedback and knowing that there are people out there reading my story. Thanks again!**


	28. Dad, Donna and Dean

Rory walks back into the house and stands leaning against the kitchen cabinets. Lorelai and Mia are fighting over the washing up.

"I always wash, mom! It's your turn!" says Mia.

"Yes, but you're the best at washing."

"And you say that every time so I always do the washing up and you always dry and now we'll never know if you can wash up well or not."

"Rory, settle this please." says Lorelai. "Rory?" Lorelai turns around.

"Dean likes the Donna Reed show." says Rory.

"Who doesn't? It's great." says Mia.

"No, I mean he actually thinks the idea is nice. The woman looking after her man and all that."

"Seriously?" says Mia. Rory nods.

"Wow." says Lorelai.

"It really bothers me." says Rory.

"Is this a deal breaker for you, kid?" asks Lorelai.

"A deal breaker?" says Rory. "I don't know. Is Donna Reed worth breaking up over?"

"Depends on you, Rory." says Mia.

"Yeah. It does." says Rory, running into her room.

"Here. You wash and dry and I'll give you a dollar." says Lorelai, throwing the dish cloth at Mia and following Rory into her room.

"Only a dollar?" says Mia, but Lorelai's gone. "I need to ask for a raise."

* * *

"Mom, I'm home." says Mia. She walks into the kitchen and turns to see a bird. "Mom?" she says. "Is that you? Who turned you into a bird? Was it Kirk? Did you buy something weird from him?"

"Hey, Mia, how was school?" says Lorelai. Mia jumps.

"Mom! You scared me! I thought you'd been turned into a bird. Why is there a bird here? You didn't get a pet, did you? Who let you get a pet?"

"Relax. She is not mine. This is Stella." says Lorelai, smiling. "Well, that's what I'm calling her. She's Rory's science project. We have to watch her while Rory's at Babette's watching her new kitten."

"Aw, cute, can I go over?"

"I wouldn't, Mia. Rory's probably gonna have Dean over and I'm pretty sure she's planning something after the whole 'Donna Reed' fiasco."

"Oh, Ok." says Mia. "That's fine. I'll just chill here with you, Stella."

"And, me, your wonderful mother." says Lorelai.

"Well, I guess you can hang out with us too, mom, but you'd kinda be third wheeling with me and Stella."

"Wow." Lorelai gasps. "I birthed you and now I'm being replaced with a bird."

* * *

"And so I found out that Donna Reed's actually pretty cool." says Rory.

"And I found out that a chick can fit it into so many small places." says Lorelai.

"I just can't believe you wore those shoes." says Mia. "Do you still have them?"

"They were rented." says Rory through gritted teeth.

"Look, Mom, a motorcycle." says Mia. "Urgh, I hate them. They're so gross and noisy."

"Sorry, Taylor Junior." says Lorelai. The motorcycle pulls up near them and the rider gets off.

"Nice shirt. Take it off." He says.

"Umm Mom?" says Mia. The motorcyclist lifts his helmet off.

"Dad!" yells Rory, running towards him and giving him a hug.

"Christopher." Lorelai whispers.

"Hey, Mia." says Christopher, waving at her. Mia grabs onto her mother tight and nods in his direction.

"What's he doing here, mom? Did he arrange this?" says Mia.

"Nope." says Lorelai. "But that's Chris." She walks over to give him a hug, leaving Mia on the street behind her.

* * *

"So, dad, what brings you to Stars Hollow?" says Rory.

"I was just on some business nearby and I thought I'd drop in and see my girls." Chris says, trying to wrap his arm around Mia. She wriggles away.

"Oohh business." says Lorelai. "That's sounds very cool and grown up."

"Yeah well that's me now." says Chris. "Cool and grown up."

"Are you staying long, dad?" asks Rory.

"Yeah, I'm here for a night. I'm staying in a hotel in a place called Woodbridge. You know it?"

"Yeah, but you can't stay in a hotel, dad! You can stay with us, can't he mom?"

"Err.." says Lorelai.

"Don't worry if you can't, Lor. I know you've got a life going on here."

"It's very short notice." says Mia, softly.

"But he can stay, can't he Mom?" says Rory, firmly.

"Of course you can stay, Chris." says Lorelai.

"Hey, I'm just going to nip in to the market here and buy some toothpaste." says Chris.

"Mom, why didn't you want to let him stay?" says Rory.

"Rory..."

"Mom, he's my dad. You can't change that."

"Unfortunately." says Mia.

"But Rory, I don't want you to get too attached. You know Christopher, he's in your life one minute and the next, he's gone."

"But right now he's here so can we just enjoy that? Plus, maybe he's changed. He's never been to Stars Hollow before."

"No, I know, just be careful." says Lorelai.

"Mom, can I stay at grandma and grandpa's tonight?" asks Mia.

"What? Why?" says Rory.

"I just don't wanna be around dad. You know how I feel about him."

"I do but honey, maybe try and give the guy another chance. He does love you and he's trying to make amends." says Lorelai.

"It doesn't change the fact that he left us, left you to raise alone. He's so irresponsible, mom." says Mia.

"He was sixteen when Rory was born!"

"So were you! The difference was, you grew up and he didn't. Now he just drops in and out of our lives whenever he wants to play moms and dads."

"Mia, please, stay at home tonight. Cut the guy some slack. I hate that you hate him and you do need a dad."

"I don't." says Mia. "I only need you and we've been doing fine without him for almost a decade. But I will stay at home tonight. Mostly because if I play another game of hungry hippos I'll scream."

Chris walks out of Doose's. "Got my toothpaste!" he says. "Lor, why is that woman taking photos of me from the gazebo?"

"Patty!" yells Lorelai.

"Sorry, sugar, just thought visual aids would be useful when I tell east side Tilly about this!" Patty yells back. "This is Christopher, right?"

"Yes, this is Chris." yells Lorelai.

"What was that?" asks Chris.

"Sorry. This town is way to invested in who I've slept with and they've been waiting to see you for sixteen years."

"This town is crazy."

"Mom, I'm gonna stop by Luke's. I'll meet you at home." says Mia.

"Ok, babe, annoy him for me."

"Will do." says Mia, leaving.

"Is she allowed to go off on her own like that?" asks Chris.

"Of course." says Lorelai. "She's sensible and this town's really safe."

"Huh. Guess I missed when she got old enough to go off on her own." says Chris.

* * *

"Hey, Luke." says Mia.

"Hey, Mia, isn't your dad in town?" asks Luke.

"Yeah. News travels fast round here." says Mia, sadly.

"Well, Patty's told everyone. So how come you're here and not with him."

"Because I don't like him." says Mia, simply.

"Oh." says Luke. "Is he a jerk? Has he been mean to you?"

"Not really mean but he was a jerk." says Mia.

"You want me to go beat him up for you?" asks Luke.

Mia smiles. "Thanks, Luke but I think pie will be enough."

"You wanna take so home for Rory?"

"Rory doesn't need pie. She likes our dad."

"And you don't?"

"I love him, I guess. But I don't like him."

"Family's suck." says Luke. "And for some god-known reason we still love them. It's stupid really."

"Yeah, really stupid." says Mia. "Thanks for the pie, Luke, see you tomorrow."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! What do you guys think about Christopher and Mia? Please leave a review and let me know. Thanks again.**


	29. Three Month Anniversary

"Rory, sweetie, I know your three month anniversary is important but I really don't think the dress you wear is going to change the way Dean feels about you." Lorelai calls into the dressing room.

"It's not but I want to look nice." says Rory. "Besides, I inherited your shopping gene. This is your fault."

Lorelai turns to Mia. "If she's anything like me she's going to be in there for a while. C'mon, let's look around the rest of the store."

Mia and Lorelai wander around the store and find the kids section.

"Mia, look! These boots are so cute! And they're your size. Try them on!"

"Mom, they're furry winter boots." says Mia.

"And?"

"And it's June."

"So what? Winter clothes are the best. They're cute and warm and magical."

"Mom, these boots are not magical and I won't be able to wear them for months. By that time, I will have grown out of them." says Mia.

"I guess. You are growing like a weed. Boy, you're getting old. You're gonna be ten, soon."

"I know. It's so exciting!" says Mia. Lorelai smiles at her.

"My little baby turning double digits. I don't know how I feel about that. Would you mind holding off on the whole 'growing up' thing while I think it over?"

"Sure mom." says Mia. "Let's go see if Rory has picked out a dress yet."

* * *

"Ok, I'm ready." says Rory.

"Well then get out here. Let's see you!" says Lorelai. Rory walks out and twirls.

"What do you think?"

"You look great, babe." says Lorelai.

"Hey, nice dress." says Mia. "That was definitely worth the four hours we spent in the store while you picked it out."

"I know you're being sarcastic but I'm choosing to ignore it." says Rory.

"Girls, please, I can't be bothered to break up an argument today." says Lorelai. "Rory, sweetie, you look lovely. Go, have a great time and pray for us at Friday night dinner."

"You'll be fine." says Rory. "You'll have a great time."

"Seriously, young lady. Drop the sarcasm." says Lorelai. "Bye, sweets." Lorelai sighs and turns to Mia. "Come on then, kid two. Let's get going."

* * *

"Well that was interesting." says Mia.

"Did you see the way mom looked at me!" Lorelai explodes.

"And the rant begins." says Mia. "Here, buckle your seatbelt."

"'When was the last time you had a relationship that lasted three months, Lorelai'" Lorelai says, mimicking Emily.

"What was that?" asks Mia.

"Kid, why are you interrupting me, mid-rant?" says Lorelai. "You know better than that."

"That impression was awful!" says Mia.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, firstly, grandma isn't British."

"Ok, I do not need you judging me too." says Lorelai. Then she sighs. "She's right, though. I haven't had a relationship that's lasted longer than three months since your dad."

"Mom, that's because you've had Rory to look after, and then me."

"Yeah, I know but your ten soon. Rory's got her own boyfriend and her own life and pretty soon she'll be off to college and you won't be far behind her. Then I'll be alone. I don't want to be alone." Lorelai says, sadly.

Mia looks at her, desperate to help. "Then I won't go to college." she says. "I'll just stay here with you forever."

Lorelai smiles at her. "I love that you think that way but I want you to have your own life."

"You won't be alone though, mom. You've got a life here. The town, your friends, Sookie, Michel, Luke."

"Yeah, Luke." says Lorelai smiling.

"What do you mean 'yeah Luke'?" asks Mia.

"What?"

"Why did you say, 'yeah Luke' and smile like that."

"Because Luke's my friend."

"So are Sookie and Michel but you didn't say their names." says Mia.

"It's just because you said Luke's name last." says Lorelai, avoiding Mia's eye contact.

"If you date Luke it's gotta be forever." says Mia.

"What? I'm not gonna date Luke!"

"No, but you like him. You always have. And if you date him that's it. You can't break up with him or anything. Luke is not like the other guys you date. Luke's different."

"I know Luke's different but that doesn't mean I'm going to date him." says Lorelai. Mia ignores this comment.

"You can't break up with Luke because if you do, he won't be in our lives and I need Luke. You need Luke."

"I know I need Luke." says Lorelai.

"Right." says Mia.

* * *

"Was that the door?" asks Lorelai from her room. "Mia?"

"Mom, you better get down here." says Mia.

"Why? Is George Clooney here! Oh George I'm here!" Lorelai jokes as she runs downstairs. Then she sees Rory crying in the hall. "Rory?"

"Mom, we broke up." says Rory, collapsing into her mother. Lorelai hugs her and looks up at Mia.

"Get tissues and pizza." Lorelai mouths to Mia. Mia nods and runs through to the kitchen. Lorelai sits on the couch and lays Rory's head across her lap.

"Shh, baby, it's ok. It's ok, I'm here."

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Sorry this chapter's a bit short. I hope you don't mind! Thanks again.**


	30. Luke vs Chris

"How's she doing?" asks Mia when she sees Lorelai walking out of the girls' room.

"Well she won't talk to me." says Lorelai. "I hope she'll be fine. Anyway, seeing as I'm kind of on a roll with the talks at the moment, sit down. Let's talk."

"About what?" asks Mia, sitting at the kitchen table.

"About Dad. We haven't talked about it yet."

"What's there to talk about? He came, he was Christopher and now he's gone."

"But you still don't like him." says Lorelai, sadly.

"Mom, I don't know if I ever will. You know I hate him for everything he's done." says Mia.

"I know, sweets, and I understand why. But I really need you to have a good relationship with him."

"Why, mom? Why is it so important?"

"Because what if something happens to me?" Lorelai bursts out. Mia looks at her, shocked. "What if something happens to me. Well, if something did happen to me you'd go to your dad and I hate thinking that you'd be grieving and unhappy at the same time. I don't want you to be lonely. I mean, it's not like I'm planning on crashing the car any time soon but..."

"Mom! Stop! Nothings going to happen to you! You're gonna be fine and we're gonna live here together for ever and ever."

"But what if can't be like that. What would you want to happen? Don't consider money because everything I have would be split between you and Rory."

Mia thinks for a minute. "I don't think I'd want to go to dad." she says, after a few moments thought. "I wouldn't want to move too far away from Stars Hollow. Maybe grandma and grandpa?"

"Really?" asks Lorelai. Mia looks unsure.

"But I'd prefer to stay properly in Stars Hollow. I need this town. If something happens to you in the next five years, I think I'd like to live with Luke. After that, I can live with Rory, right?"

"Yeah. Luke?"

"I'm sure." says Mia.

"What if Rory doesn't want that?"

"Rory goes to college in a year. I don't think that will be a problem. Can you ask Luke for me?"

"Sure. You know I still want you to like Chris." says Lorelai.

"I do love him, mom." says Mia.

* * *

Mia is woken by the main bedroom light. She blinks sleepily.

"Rory?" she says.

"Hey!"

"What's the time?" says Mia, groggily.

Rory ignores her. "You would not wake up this morning. I tried everything."

"Oh my god, it's 5am. Rory, what is this? Why are you dressed?"

Rory ignores her again. "Well, at least you're finally awake."

"Because you turned the light on." says Mia.

"Yeah, well, I needed you up early." says Rory, walking over to Mia and stroking her hair. "Hey, your hair's getting kind of long. Let's get it cut today. I'll add it to the list." Rory strides out into the kitchen.

"What list?" says Mia, following her.

"This one." says Rory, shoving a piece of paper into Mia's face. Mia tries to catch it but fails. She picks it up to see a list of chores. On the bottom it says 'Get Mia's hair cut'

"Rory, what is this?"

"It's the list of things we need to do but never get round to. We're going to do them today!"

"What the..." says Mia.

"Heck better be that next word." says Lorelai, walking into the kitchen. "What are you guys doing up so early?"

"I'm not, she is." says Mia. Rory smiles and waves at Lorelai before going back to her list.

Mia walks over to Lorelai and whispers "I think this might be some weird 'getting over Dean' thing."

"Probably." Lorelai whispets back. They look over at Rory writing her list. "She does look happy, though."

"That's because she's writing a list." says Mia. "Mom, I can't deal with this early morning thing everyday."

"I know, sweets. Just be understanding for today and I'll try to talk to Rory."

"Ok!" says Rory, brightly. "The list is complete and I think it's very achievable." Rory hands the list to Lorelai.

"Hey, we're not getting her hair cut!" says Lorelai, grabbing Mia's hair. "No one's touching her hair! And where on this list does it say "Luke's for breakfast'?"

"It doesn't. We don't have time for that this morning." says Rory, turning back around.

Lorelai leans in close to Mia. "It's worse than we thought." Lorelai whispers.

* * *

"Hey Luke." says Lorelai, walking into Luke's.

"Couldn't go a day without your coffee fox, huh?"

"Well, actually I'm kinda hiding from my insane daughter."

"Mia?" says Luke.

"No, Rory."

"Huh. I always thought if one of them went insane it would be Mia."

"Yeah, well, it's Rory."

"And you think she won't look for you in a coffee shop?" says Luke.

"I didn't think logically I just thought 'Me need coffee now'"

"So how come Rory's acting wacky?" asks Luke.

"Dean broke up with her." says Lorelai.

"He what!" yells Luke, slamming down the coffee pot. "Little punk! I'll break every bone in his body, starting with his face. I'm gonna break his face!"

"Luke, Luke, shhh. You can't beat up Dean. He might not have done anything bad. Rory hasn't told me what happened yet so I don't know how they broke up."

"Rory hasn't told you?" says Luke, shocked.

"No, she's taking this really hard and she doesn't wanna talk yet. I'm not gonna push her."

"Aren't you curious, though?"

"Well of course but... anyway, let's stop talking about the love life I of my sixteen year old daughter. I need ask you something.

"Shoot." says Luke, wiping down the counter.

"No, Luke, I need to ask you something big. It's kinda serious. Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

"Uh, yeah sure. Caesar, you're in charge." says Luke, leading Lorelai into the storeroom and shutting the door. "Are you ok?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." says Lorelai, sitting on a crate. "Luke, sit."

Luke sits down opposite her.

"Luke. I was talking to Mia the other night about what would happen if something happened to me, like if I got some horrible disease or something..."

"Oh my god, are you sick?" asks Luke.

"No, Luke, I'm fine. However, if something did happen to me, then the girls are set to go to Chris but, if you remember, Mia doesn't really like Chris. Like at all."

"I remember. She came in here all upset that weekend he was in Stars Hollow." says Luke.

"Yeah, well, both Mia and I agree that she wouldn't be happy living with Chris if I wasn't able to look after her, not only because she doesn't like him but because she doesn't want to leave the town. I asked her who she would like to look after her and she said, until Rory's out of college, you. So what I'm asking is Luke, I know it's a big responsibility so don't feel pressured but could you... would you...?

"Yes." says Luke, quickly.

"Luke, please think this through properly."

"I've thought it through. Yes. I would be honoured to look after that kid for you, Lorelai. I would look after like she was my own. I'm so happy you would trust me with her."

"Of course I would." says Lorelai. "So your answer is..."

"Yes. Definitely yes."

"Thanks Luke." says Lorelai, wrapping her arms around him. Luke accepts the hug stiffly at first, but then he relaxes and holds her tight.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Let me know if you enjoyed the slightly deeper conversations this chapter. Please leave a review, I love reading them!**


	31. Love and trustfunds

"Hey Mia, how's it going? How's Rory?" says Harrison, running up to her in the playground before school.

"I'm good. She's good. She eventually wallowed." says Mia. She turns to her mom. "Bye Mom." she says, giving her a hug.

"Oh, right, I see. I'm not needed anymore. I'll just go home and sit there alone, weeping and waiting, waiting and weeping for your return." says Lorelai, dramatically.

"Have fun." says Mia, waving her away.

"Harsh." says Lorelai, kissing Mia's head while she's talking to Harrison.

"Are you still here?" asks Mia.

"Love you too, babe."

Harrison and Mia walk into school together.

"Hey I've got a secret." says Harrison.

"Really?" asks Mia. Harrison nods. There's silence. "Are you going to tell me or what?"

"Well it's a pretty big secret..." says Harrison.

"Harrison, just tell me, it's fine. We never have secrets."

"Ok. Well you know Callum Greenberg?"

"The guy who changes his shoes after every lesson?"

"Yeah. Well he told Marcus who told Jennifer who told Clara who told me that he has a crush on you."

"What?!"

"Shh! I promised Clara and Clara promised Jennifer that we wouldn't tell you."

Mia's silent for a minute.

"C'mon Mia, talk! You wanna be his girlfriend? Like Sammy and Gemima? They've been going out for almost a week now!"

"I don't know maybe..."

"Why not? You like Callum, right?"

"Yeah but... Harrison are we old enough to have boyfriends and girlfriends? Rory didn't have her first boyfriend until she was nearly sixteen."

"We cross the street by ourselves. Of course we're old enough!"

"Harrison..."

"It'll be fine, Mia. If you think your mom won't be cool with it, just don't tell her."

"Don't tell her?"

"Mia, we're not babies anymore. Come on, let's sit down."

* * *

"So what's my great-grandma like?" asks Rory.

"I honestly don't know hun. I haven't seen her in years. Dad loves her though."

"What should I call her?" asks Mia.

"Well her name is Lorelai. She's Lorelai the first. Dad calls her Trix and mom calls her ma'am. I guess you can call her grandma."

"Ok."

"Lorelai! Get in here!" says Emily, squeezing out the door.

"Mom? What is it?"

"For the past 5 hours your grandmother has been in there criticising my every move."

"It begins." Lorelai smiles.

"It's 'Emily, the table cloth needs to be ironed.' 'I think it's impolite not to give guests your best towels.' 'Why am I still waiting for tea?' It's endless. On and on and on. The criticism, the abuse, the demoralisation. You have no idea how this feels!"

"Really?" says Lorelai.

"Oh, Lorelai don't be dramatic. I am not that bad. Now get on here and be my buffer."

"Ah, Emily is back. Emily it is rude to leave your dinner guests. The maid should answer the door. That's what you pay them for." says Trix.

"Yes ma'am." says Emily. "Lorelai and the girls are here."

"Lorelai! Rory! and little Mia! Come here let me look at you." Trix says. She looks them up and down. "Richard, they're gorgeous."

"Thank you, Trix." says Richard. "I am very proud of them."

"Sit, girls, sit." says Trix. "How are you all?"

"I'm fine, thank you grandma."

"Lorelai runs an inn now, Trix." says Richard.

"An inn! Why how quaint. And you Rory? How old are you now?"

"I'm sixteen." says Rory.

"Sixteen! A dangerous age." says Trix, glancing at Lorelai. Lorelai looks at the ground.

"Rory is very bright, Trix." says Richard.

"Yes. She goes to Chilton." Emily boasts.

"Chilton! A very good school. And you, Mia is it?" asks Trix.

Mia nods.

"How's your life?"

"Good." says Mia.

"Talkative, that one." says Trix, sarcastically. "Now Lorelai, how do you afford Chilton?"

"What?" says Lorelai.

"Well I can't imagine that, as the manager of an inn, you can afford an expensive school like Chiton."

"We're helping Lorelai out, Trix." says Richard.

"You're loaning her money?" says Trix, disgusted.

"I'm paying it all back, grandma." says Lorelai.

"Quiet, dear. Emily, loaning is a dirty business. I intend to give both girls a trust fund and Rory can use hers to pay for school."

"What's a trust fund, grandpa?" asks Mia.

"It's when somebody gives you a lot of money which you have access to when you're older." says Richard. "Trix this is very generous."

"Well they're family." says Trix. "And you help family."

* * *

"Well that was an eventful evening." says Lorelai, when the girls have arrived home.

"I know. It was crazy." says Rory. "I can see why you were named after Trix, though. And that's a compliment. She's great."

"She's definitely interesting." says Lorelai.

"I'm gonna catch up on some homework." says Rory.

"Ok, sweets." says Lorelai. She turns her attention to Mia. "Hey you!" she says.

Mia looks up.

"You're quiet tonight. From experience I know that that's not good. You wanna tell me what's up?"

Mia doesn't say anything.

"What? You done something bad? Ate the last pop tart or something? Just tell me kid cus trust me, I've done worse."

"I've not done anything bad." says Mia softly. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Ok, so this is bigger than pop tarts." says Lorelai. "Tell me what it is, babe, and I'll try to help."

"Mom, am I old enough for a boyfriend?" asks Mia.

Lorelai is shocked but she tries to hide it. "A boyfriend? I thought I'd was gonna be a few more years before I had this conversation with you."

"So I am too young?" says Mia.

"Mia, where is this coming from? I've never heard you talk about boys like that. Ever. This all seems very sudden. Oh my god, is it Harrison! Because you can hang out with Harrison without being his girlfriend. Just like I hang out with Michel."

"Ok, firstly ew, gross, it is not Harrison! Secondly you don't hang out with Michel. Michel hates you."

"Michel does not hate me!"

"He calls me and Rory 'your spawn'"

"So? That shows he hates you. And stop trying to change the subject. If it's not Harrison then who is your...boyfriend. God that sounds weird."

"No one's my boyfriend. It's just that this guy Callum has a crush on me."

"That's kinda cute."

"It's not. It's scary."

"Scary?" says Lorelai. "Well if it's scary then you're probably not ready to date."

"But other people are."

"Mia, you know you shouldn't measure yourself by other people. Listen. You get a boyfriend when you are ready for one and only then. Hopefully that won't be until you're thirty."

"Ok." says Mia.

"So no boyfriend?" asks Lorelai. Mia shakes her head. "Thank god."

"It's nice to be admired, though." says Mia, smiling.

"Get used to it. I have a feeling you're gonna get a lot of admirers."

"Who's got admirers?" asks Rory.

"Mia."

"Why do my nine year old sister and my thirty-two year old mother have better love lives than me?"

"What are you saying?" says Lorelai, getting up.

"Nothing." Rory says, running away.

"I'm gonna go beat her up and you... You're gonna be careful about dating or you're gonna become a nun, Ok?"

"Seems fair." says Mia.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Please, please, please, give me any suggestions for what you want to happen in the story in the reviews or via PM. I'd like to write something that you want to read. Next chapter next week.**


	32. Special guests

"Can someone other than me get that phone please?" Lorelai shouts from upstairs.

"Why? It's gonna be for you anyway." says Rory.

"But I'm old! And my bones hurt! You should be caring for me in my old age."

"Mom, you're thirty two!"

"Who cares? That's older than you!"

"I'll get it." says Mia. She picks up the phone. "Hello."

"Hello?" says the strange voice at the end of the phone. "This is Lorelai's house, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Who's calling?"

"Max. Medina." says the voice. Mia doesn't respond. "Hello?"

"Can you hold please?" says Mia, running upstairs. She runs into her mom's room. "Mom? Max is in the phone. Why is he calling? Do you want me to tell him you're not here?"

"It's Max? We didn't arrange to talk today."

"You're talking to Max again?"

"Come inside. And shut the door." says Lorelai.

"Mom? Are you talking to him?"

"No. Well yes but we're not dating."

"You told us it didn't work out between you two." says Mia.

"It didn't. But then it did. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you like this but this is good news. And I'll tell him not to call the house if it's weird for you."

"It's not weird it's just... unexpected."

"I get that. Hey, do me a favour and don't tell Rory. She's still getting over Dean and I don't want to make it harder for her."

"Fine. Here." says Mia, handing Lorelai the phone. "He's been on hold for ages. The guy must like you."

"He does." says Lorelai, smiling.

* * *

"Where are you, mother dearest?" says Rory. "I have exciting news."

"I'm here kid. What's this news?"

"You are going to love this. Tomorrow, we are having over a very special visitor."

"Madonna?" says Lorelai, smiling cheekily.

"No, not Madonna." says Rory.

"Then it must be the Queen. You can't get more special than the Queen."

"No, mom, not the Queen either."

"The Queen and Madonna? What a party that would be. I bet the three of us would get along great."

"Mom, Madonna and the Queen are not coming to visit tomorrow. Grandma is." says Rory.

"What." says Lorelai, her smile vanishing.

"She called last night after dinner to check if we got home safe and then we started talking and I invited her to come to Kim's Antiques tomorrow."

"Rory..." Lorelai moans. "You never initiate contact with grandma! Have I taught you nothing?"

"You don't have to come. I already told her you were busy and even if you're not you can just pretend to be. I made an excuse for you. Mia, however, has no way out."

"I still don't like this." says Lorelai.

"It'll be fine, mom. I'm sure grandma will enjoy looking around Stars Hollow."

* * *

"And this is the centre of town." Rory says, leading Emily out to the street.

"That's our gazebo." says Mia.

"That's Luke's Diner." says Rory.

"And that's Doose's Market."

"Over there is Stars Hollow books and Al's pancake world."

"That's the Chat Club."

"And this is Kim's Antiques." says Rory.

"How quaint!" says Emily.

* * *

"So, have I seen the whole town now?" says Emily.

"Yep. That's pretty much it." says Mia.

"Except for..."

"Except for what?" asks Emily.

"Rory I don't think that's a good idea." says Mia.

"What's not a good idea?"

"Well, we haven't been to mom's inn yet." says Rory.

"Mistake." Mia whispers under her breath.

"Ah, yes, the inn! Let's go there. I'd like that." says Emily, striding ahead.

Rory hangs back to talk to Mia. "It'll be fine, Mia. She said she'd like to go to the inn."

"Fine. We'll go the inn then."

* * *

"Come on grandma! This is my favourite part of the inn." says Rory, pulling Emily towards the potting shed.

"Rory, why is this dirty shed your favourite part of this beautiful inn?"

"Because it's our dirty shed." says Mia, pushing open the door.

"This is where we used to live, grandma." says Rory. "See? Our flowery wallpaper's still here."

"Oh...my goodness." says Emily.

"I loved it here." says Rory. "We used to have dance parties whenever the inn held events and I'd play in the lobby with some of the guest's children. It was so much fun. Do you remember, Mia?"

"Kind of. I was very little when we left." says Mia. She looks over at Emily, whose eyes have already filled with tears.

"I can't believe she had two little babies here." Emily whispers.

"Grandma?" says Mia, but Emily's gone. "I knew we shouldn't have bought her here."

"Oh, shut up, Mia." says Rory, following Emily out.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! I won't be uploading one next week because it's Christmas Eve! But there will be one the week after that. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Merry Christmas!**


	33. Fight night

"So, how was your day out?" asks Lorelai.

"I'm not allowed to use words that accurately describe it." says Mia, walking into her room and slamming the door.

"Uh, excuse me! Rory, why is she suddenly acting like a fifteen year old?"

"The outing didn't go as well as I thought." says Rory. "I decided to take grandma to the inn."

"Oh no. No no."

"I thought we'd take her to look round the place. I thought she'd enjoy."

"Code red! Code red!" says Lorelai.

"And I took her to the potting shed..." says Rory.

"Abort mission!"

"And she got upset and left and Mia's angry because she told me not to take grandma to the inn and I didn't listen and I'm mad because she was right."

"Ah, Rory. You didn't know grandma was gonna react badly. I'll talk to Mia, don't worry about it."

Lorelai pushes open Mia's bedroom door and sits on the bed.

"Hey, hon. Rory told me what happened."

"Did she tell you I'm mad at her because she didn't listen to me because she never listens to me."

"She did." says Lorelai. "Look Mia, I know you're angry but you know that grandma's as unpredictable as the weather. Rory didn't know she was gonna react like that."

"She could've guessed." says Mia.

"Cut her some slack, Mia." says Lorelai, stroking her back.

"I can't believe your taking her side! You always take her side because she's your favourite. Once, just once, I'd like you to back me up!" Mia yells.

"What's going on in here?" asks Rory.

"If you're so close with her then Rory should probably know you're talking to Max again." says Mia, looking at Rory. Mia runs out of her room and out the front door. Lorelai follows her.

"Mom? Isn't that true?" asks Rory. Lorelai ignores her and shouts after Mia.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"To Clara's. Come find me when you realise you're wrong." says Mia.

* * *

"Mom. What she said, about you and Max, is that true?" says Rory.

"Well yes, I'm sorry that's how you found out but yes it is true." says Lorelai.

"How could you not tell me that?"

"Rory, I didn't want to upset. I know you're still hung up on Dean."

"I'm not hung up on Dean!"

"Rory..."

"Don't 'Rory' me. There's no excuse for this."

"Rory, please don't be mad at me. I can't have both of you mad at me."

Rory looks at her. "I want you to know that I'm very unhappy with you. But I'm calling a truce until this thing with Mia is over because I don't want you to be alone. However, when this is over you better explain this to me."

"Deal." says Lorelai.

* * *

"Rory, I'm gonna go get your sister." says Lorelai.

"Maybe I should go. It was me she was mad at."

"What if Dean's there?"

"He's not." says Rory, looking at the floor. "He works this time on a Saturday."

"How do you know that?" asks Lorelai.

"I just do. Look, do you want me to go or not?"

"Yes. You go." says Lorelai. "She might listen to you."

* * *

Rory knocks on Dean and Clara's front door. She hears footsteps and her heart quickens, just as it used to before. The door opens and Dean appears behind it. The two stare at each other, lost for words.

"I thought you'd be at Doose's." says Rory, finally.

"Are you her for your sister?" says Dean, avoiding eye contact completely.

"Uh, yeah." says Rory, trying to hide the fact that she's hurt.

"I'll go get her." says Dean. A few moments later, Mia appears at the door.

"What?" she says.

"Mia, please just come with me. Let's talk about this at home. Dean's here and it's so awkward. Please Mia, help me out." Rory pleads.

Rory can see Mia considering what to do. Mia looks up into Rory's eyes and softens.

"Ok." she says.

"Thanks kid."

They both walk out onto the street. Mia turns to Rory and tilts her head sideways.

"I'm sorry of you think I'm mom's favourite but I'm not."

"I know." says Mia, softly.

"You do? Then what was that?"

"I was upset."

"About what?" asks Rory.

"Grandma. She seemed so upset by it all. I hate that. I want her and mom to make up from this stupid fight."

"What fight?"

"The one that's been going on for sixteen years." says Mia. "I love grandma and I love mom and now they're probably going to fight again and I don't want that to happen because then I have to pick sides, which I hate doing, and not see grandma and grandpa for a while and..."

"Hey, Hey..." says Rory. "Calm down. Mom and grandma will both always love you, you know that. Unfortunately they are also always going to fight."

"Can we stop it?" asks Mia.

"I think we'd need a professional to do that, kid."

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter is so late but I've been so busy with Christmas and New Year celebrations that I just haven't had time! The next chapter will still be up on Sunday. Thank you all for your kind reviews on the last chapter. Please leave me more because they make my heart happy!❤️**


	34. Talk to me, Lorelai

"Hey." says Lorelai walking into the girls' room. Mia is getting ready for bed.

"Hey." says Mia.

Lorelai smiles at her cheekily. "You want me to tuck you in like I did when you were a little kid?"

"But I'm not a little kid any more."

"Ok, mommy's feeling vulnerable, use your imagination." says Lorelai. "Hey, it's cold tonight, you want bed socks?"

Mia looks at her strangely. Lorelai doesn't usually fuss over her like this. It's weird. "Uh, I'm good thanks, mom."

"Oh come on. You can take them off easily if you get too hot. Here, I'll put them on for you."

Mia pulls her feet away. "Mom, please stop."

"Let me mother you, please." says Lorelai.

"Fine. But I'm putting on the socks. Why aren't you mothering Rory anyway?"

"Because you're the youngest."

"I resent that." says Mia.

"That's mean. I just gave you bed socks. Do you even know what 'resent' means?" asks Lorelai, playfully.

"No. But I know I used it right."

"Can't argue with that. Plus I think Rory's still mad at me about Max." says Lorelai. Mia says nothing. "Come on then, into bed."

Lorelai sits on the end of Mia's bed. "I'm sorry we fought, kid. I hate it when we fight."

"I'm sorry we fought too."

"Rory told me what you told her, the gist of it anyway. I'm gonna stop fighting with your grandma in front of you two as much as possible. At least until you're older. I'll try and get you out the room next time. I didn't realise it upset you."

"But you and grandma are still gonna fight?"

"Me and grandma are gonna fight until someone figures out how to make a pig fly. I'm still me and grandma's still grandma. She hates my life and I hate hers. Until that changes, I'm pretty sure there are still gonna be fights. But hey, it makes life interesting."

"It definitely does." says Mia.

"Ok, night babe." says Lorelai, getting up and starts walking out.

"Mom?" says Mia. When Lorelai turns around Mia throws the bed socks in her face. Lorelai says nothing, smiles and leaves.

* * *

"Hey, Luke!" says Lorelai, walking into the diner with Mia on Friday morning.

"I haven't got time for your pointless banter this morning. It's busy. Sit."

"Oh Luke, you know how to sweep a girl of her feet." says Lorelai, in a ditzy voice.

"I said no banter!" says Luke, picking up a coffee pot.

"You are the most beautiful thing alive." says Lorelai, sincerely.

"What?" says Luke, stopping half way through serving food and freezing with the plates in mid-air. The couple at the table give him a strange look and take the food from his hands.

"I was talking to the coffee!" says Lorelai. "Men!"

"Always thinking about themselves." says Mia. The girls go over to a table where four people are sitting.

"Could you move please? This is our table." says Lorelai.

"Stay." says Luke. "Will you just sit at the counter." he says to Lorelai and Mia.

Lorelai sits at the counter and helps herself to two doughnuts.

"What are you doing now!" asks Luke, annoyed.

"Eating a doughnut." says Lorelai, without looking up. Mia sits next to her and grabs the other doughnut.

"I hate you, I hope you know that." says Luke, going into the kitchen.

"Oh Luke, save the sweet talk for when we're alone." Lorelai calls after him.

* * *

"Hey Rory." says Lorelai, striding into the kitchen to make coffee. Rory is reading at the table.

"Good afternoon, Lorelai." says Rory, coldly and without looking up.

Lorelai looks at Rory weirdly. "What's with that?"

"With what?"

"The 'good afternoon, Lorelai'? Are you about to interview me or something?"

"I don't understand what you mean." says Rory in the same cold tone.

"You know what I mean. Why are you acting so weird?"

"Well, as you didn't tell me about Max..." Rory begins.

"How many times? I'm sorry Rory! So sorry."

"As I was saying, as you didn't tell me about Max we are no longer friends, temporarily. Because of reasons beyond my control, we will always be mother and daughter but I suggest we treat this relationship more like a document." Rory stands up and offers Lorelai her hand. Lorelai doesn't take it.

"Rory, please. I know your mad and I should've told you..."

"You told Mia." Rory retorts.

"I didn't tell Mia she just found out."

"Well that's so much better."

"Look I should've told you but I was trying to do what I thought was best for you. I was trying to help."

Rory says nothing but thrusts her outstretched hand at Lorelai again. Lorelai ignores it.

"Rory don't you think that maybe a bit of this is about Dean?" says Lorelai, gently. When Lorelai mentions Dean, Rory explodes.

"You know nothing about Dean! And nothing about me! Forget that, you just know nothing!" Rory yells. Mia comes out her room.

"Calm down, Rory." she says. She's ignored.

"You don't understand, mom!" Rory yells again at Lorelai.

"I don't understand? Of course I don't because you won't tell me Rory, you won't tell me. You and me share everything but this, this is new and different and I wish you'd tell me what happened!"

"That's completely besides the point! We weren't talking about Dean!"

"Rory, please calm down." Mia interjects again.

"I can't deal with this right now! I can't deal with you!" Rory continues to yell.

"Rory..." Mia begins.

"Oh my god, shut up!" yells Rory, turning to Mia now. Then she stops, shocked, and takes a step back.

"Rory..." Lorelai says quietly.

"Forget it. I'm going to grandma's"

"You're going where?"

"Grandma's. I'm going to grandma's. I have to get out of here." says Rory, leaving and slamming the front door behind her.

"Mom aren't you going to stop her?" asks Mia.

Lorelai shakes her head. "Let me give her some time."

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see next in the story in the reviews. Next chapter on Sunday.**


	35. Coffee dreams

"Okay, I'm going in. Wish me luck." says Lorelai to Mia. They are sat in front of the Gilmore mansion yet again, attempting to pick up Rory.

"Good luck." says Mia. "I hope you come out of there with your kid and not a grudge against your mother."

"Too late." says Lorelai. She looks up at the mansion where she grew up. The house that has she has so many bad memories of. She hates to think that her daughters will have similar awful memories. "God I hate this place." she sighs.

Lorelai walks up to the grand front door and knocks. Emily answers and gives Lorelai one of her smiles.

"Hello, Lorelai." she says calmly, guarding the door. Lorelai rolls her eyes.

"Let me in mom."

"Now, Lorelai are you sure this is wise? The girl is very sensitive at the moment."

"I know, mom. Please just let me in so I can talk to my kid!"

"Maybe I should go first and announce you..."

"Mom. Move." says Lorelai, firmly. Emily goes to say something but then stops and steps aside.

Lorelai knocks softly on the door of her old room.

"One minute, grandma!" says Rory.

"It's me, kid." says Lorelai. "Can I come in?"

Rory opens the door and stares at Lorelai silently.

"Rory, I'm sorry."

"I know."

"I was being stupid and overthinking everything but I just wanted to protect you."

"I'm a big girl, mom, I don't need to be protected."

"I know but Rory, I'm your mom. I just always want to protect you. You're my baby girl. I put everything into you and I love you and I'll protect you until the day I die. It breaks my heart to see you hurting over this Dean thing and it hurts more that you won't tell me what happened."

Rory still says nothing.

"Rory, I know I sound crazy. Maybe you'll understand one day, if you have kids of your own, but I'd never intentionally hurt you, you know that right?"

Rory remains silent but makes eye contact.

"Honey, I know this has something to do with Dean, I know it does. Please, just tell me what happened that night."

"He said I love you and I didn't say it back." says Rory, quickly and quietly.

"He said I love you?" says Lorelai.

Rory nods. "And I didn't say it back. I just sat there like an idiot."

"He said I love you? I've been sending the town after him with torches and pitchforks because the guy loves my daughter?"

"I'm sorry." says Rory, in a small voice.

"Ah, that's ok. I'm sure he'll do something crappy in the future that'll mean he deserves the town chasing him down."

"No, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'm sorry I came here. I'm sorry I yelled at you, and Mia."

"Well I forgive you but you'll have to take the last part up with Mia."

"I will."

* * *

"Luke! I need coffee! I'm about to head to my mother's for dinner and if my body is less than 80% caffeine, things will get ugly."

"Fine." says Luke, pouring Lorelai half a cup of coffee.

"What's this?" asks Lorelai, pointing at the cup.

"It's coffee." says Luke. "The same thing you probably make love to in your dreams."

"Why is it only half a cup? And how do you know about my dreams?"

"It's only half a cup because you don't need any more caffeine."

"But I'm paying for a whole cup."

"You never pay for coffee." says Luke

"That's bedsides the point." says Lorelai.

"No that is the point."

"Just pour me a whole mug, Ok?"

"Fine. You're an addict, you know?"

"I know."

"So Friday night dinner?"

"Friday night dinner."

"That's gotta be fun." says Luke, sarcastically.

"Yep. It means that I will have been to the Gilmore house twice in one week and I don't think that's healthy."

"Well at least they don't let you drink coffee there. That's gotta be good for something."

Lorelai smiles at him sarcastically. "Thanks for the coffee." she says, grabbing her purse and getting up to leave. She's almost out the door when Luke calls to her.

"By the way, Rory told me."

"About what?"

"About your coffee dreams. You talk in your sleep. Might wanna watch that."

Lorelai rolls her eyes at him and leaves."

"Hey! You only drank half your cup!" Luke yells, but Lorelai's gone. "Crazy woman."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! Sorry it's a bit shorter but hope you enjoyed it anyway. Please leave me reviews with any thoughts you have. As always, any feedback is much appreciated. Next chapter, next Sunday.**


	36. Surprise!

**Hey guys! So this is the last chapter of this story which is very sad BUT I will be writing a new story which will be a sequel to this story. Same characters, same storyline, same everything. I'm torn about whether or not to start the sequel story in season 2, season 4, season 6/7 or the revival. Please leave a review or PM me letting me know which one you'd prefer to read and I will decide based on that. The first chapter of the new story will be posted a in two weeks. Thank you for your support for this story and hopefully the sequel story too!**

* * *

"How's your lamb, Lorelai?" asks Emily.

"Oh, he's good. Kinda bummed about the fact that he's dead though."

"Lorelai, please don't do that." says Emily.

"Do what?"

"Try to be funny." says Emily, dryly.

"Emily, the lamb is lovely." says Richard. "Rory, how's school?" Rory doesn't respond. "Rory?" Richard repeats.

"Oh, I'm sorry! What did you ask?" says Rory.

"How's school?"

"Oh. It's fine. Just very...plaid-y."

"Where's you head at, Rory?" asks Mia.

"New Orleans." says Lorelai, laughing at her own joke.

"Lorelai, you're doing it again." says Emily.

"What? New Orleans is a funny place. Or should've I have gone for Philadelphia? Is Philadelphia funnier?"

"Mhmm, Philadelphia is funnier." says Richard, finishing a mouthful of food and gesturing with his fork.

"Cus of the cheese." adds Mia.

Richard nods. "Exactly."

"I don't understand you." Emily sighs.

* * *

"Ok, so if people arrive at 5 what time should we get Mia here?" asks Lorelai.

"Six? Or is that too late. Maybe 5.30?" suggests Rory.

"5.30 sounds good. And food..."

"Is sorted. I got Luke and Sookie to work together and I think it's going to be a beautiful partnership." says Rory.

"I've done the guest list and most people have sent me an RSVP, including my parents. Mia, inn owner Mia, is driving up and Max has said he'll bring balloons and lights."

"Oh, And Babette told me earlier that she and Morey can make it." says Rory.

"Great. This is so exciting! I've never thrown a surprise party before! Mia's gonna love it."

* * *

"Hey there, boss lady." says Max, standing at the counter.

"She is not in charge, I am." says Michel, not looking up from the booking list.

"Michel. Do you want me to repeat that to Mia?"

"What do I care what you tell your spawn?" says Michel.

"Not 'my spawn' I mean original Mia. Mia the boss. How would she feel if she heard that. Maybe she'd feel like having one less concierge..."

"I will be leaving now." says Michel, walking away.

"So hey, you."

"Hey you."

"Not that's a not a pleasure to see you, but what are you doing in the Hollow today?" asks Lorelai.

"I had some business to take of in 'The Hollow' as you call it so here I am." says Max.

"Here you most certainly are."

"So what? Is kissing on the job forbidden?" asks Max.

"Well it's frowned upon." says Lorelai, in mock seriousness.

"By who?"

"The manager."

"Isn't that you?" asks Max.

"Yes. And I say we get frowned upon." says Lorelai, leaning over the counter and kissing Max softly.

"You disgust me." says Michel, from the other side of the room.

* * *

"So, you excited about turning ten?" Harrison asks Mia on their way into town.

"I guess..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we aren't planning a big party and maybe, now I'm ten, I'm too old for parties. I just think that's sad." says Mia.

"Well yeah but... you're gonna be double digits! That's exciting right? And you still get presents. What did you ask for?"

"A new bike." says Mia. "I love my bike but it's really small and, unlike the other Gilmores, I kinda like riding my bike. Hey, we can cycle to school together!"

"Yeah, that would be cool. I'd totally beat you in races though."

"Oh, he talks the talk but can he walk the walk..." says Mia. "We'll have to wait and see."

* * *

"Ok, you get party poppers from the market and I'm gonna go check with Patty what time we can start setting up in the studio." says Lorelai, she starts to walk away but notices that Rory isn't moving. "Rory?"

"It's Saturday." says Rory.

"Oh... it's Saturday. Rory honey, this town is very small. You know you're going to have to see him at some point." Rory doesn't reply. "Do you wanna go see Patty instead? Or I could come with you?"

"No, I'll go in." says Rory.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." says Rory, taking a deep breath and striding into the market. She ducks around one of the aisles, keeping her head low and looking out for Dean. She grabs the party poppers then weaves her way to the exit. She pays and she's nearly out the door when she spots Dean, building a window display. They make eye contact. Dean smiles slightly and Rory turns and runs out of the market and across to Miss Patty's studio.

* * *

"Ok, Ok. Everyone shut up! She's coming!" says Rory, pressing her back against the wall. There's a lot of whispering and shuffling as everyone tries to find a hiding place.

Mia slides open the door to Miss Patty's. "Mom? Where's the town meeting?" she asks.

"Surprise!" Everyone yells and Rory flips the light on.

"Happy Birthday, baby!" says Lorelai.

"Mom, What is this? I thought we weren't having a party."

"No party? For your tenth? How little you know me! Now come with me, you've got a lot of presents to open."

* * *

"Hey Rory, get up it's 11.59." says Lorelai, shaking Rory awake.

"Why did she have to be born in the middle of the night?" asks Rory, groggily.

"I don't know but come on, let's wake her." says Lorelai. "Hey Birthday girl!" she says, stroking Mia's hair.

"How does it feel to be old?" asks Rory.

"Tiring." says Mia, rolling onto her back.

"Yeah, well, get used to it." says Rory.

"I can't believe my little girl is ten years old! It's hard to believe that a whole decade ago I was lying in a bed, a guest bed, at the Independance inn, screaming my head off and keeping everyone awake. Oh, I was quite a screamer and the midwife kept telling me to calm down..."

"And you asked her to take over for a bit." says Mia.

"Right. And she said no. I kinda blocked out a lot of that night but I know that Mia gave at least three refunds for that night. Anyway, suddenly you were here. You were a screamer too, wailing your head off. Then Mia handed you to me and you stopped. You were so beautiful, in a pink, slimy kind of way."

"Thanks."

"Oh but I loved you. I've never known love like it." says Lorelai, wistfully.

* * *

Rory slips into the market quietly on Monday, determined to see Dean again and not run away. She spots him at the till but her nerves get the better of her and she tries to run away. Dean sees her and runs to block her exit.

"Rory, what is this? What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, I just... I wanted to see you."

"Rory, why? You broke up with me remember? It hurts when I see you and I don't think you feel great about seeing me so why do you coming back here? Why?"

Rory doesn't answer so Dean sighs and turns back to go inside.

"Because I love you, you idiot!" she says suddenly. Dean stops turns around and kisses Rory. They break for a minute.

"I love you too." He whispers.

* * *

"Lorelai there is a delivery for you." says Michel.

"Michel can't you sign for it?"

"They said that you personally must accept it. May I make the point that this is a personal delivery and personal deliveries should not be made to the inn."

"Michel, I didn't order anything."

"Well someone did." says Michel, opening Lorelai's study door. Lorelai gasps and her eyes fill with tears. A thousand yellow daisies are sitting in the lobby of the Independance inn, swaying slightly in the breeze. Michel hands her the phone.

"What do you think?" says Max, from the end of the phone.

"Max..." says Lorelai, lost for words.

"I hope no one there has hay fever."

"Max, What is this?"

"Lorelai Gilmore, I love you. In Shakespeare's words 'I love thee with a love that shall not die, till the sun grows old and the stars grow cold.' In the words of Jane Austen 'My heart is, and always will be, yours.' 'Where there is love, there is life.' That's Gandhi. 'You are my heart, my life, my one and only thought' Arthur Conan Doyle. Do I need to go on?"

"Max..."

"My point is, all these people have said it so it must be true. I love you. And I intend to love you for the rest of my life. Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, will you marry me?"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading the final chapter! Please let me know what you think about when the sequel storyline should begin and leave reviews for this chapter. Thanks again and I hope you'll read the sequel.**


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